THE HISTORY OF THE COURVAL SUGAR FACTORY
Our family acquired 178 acres of land in September 2005 in St-Joachim-de-Courval. Majestic estate located on the banks of the St-François River. On the mostly wooded land, there was an old sugar shack unused for more than 20 years. For a long time, we had cherished the dream of sugaring. The old cabin, which had become obsolete, was demolished and replaced by a brand new one built from the trees of our land. Gradually, we came to exploit 2,500 taps out of a potential of 16,000. In order to carry out this project, the recipe needed: juice, experience and above all an uncle passionate about maple syrup production and nature. And finally, we had all the ingredients to start our project!
In spring 2010, we began our first sugaring season. To our great sadness, 2018 was the last sugaring season for our uncle Raymond, who unfortunately left us a few months later. We cannot ignore the generosity of this great man, who through his small daily gestures showed us how beautiful life is! We will be eternally grateful to him for the breath of fresh air he was able to breathe into us to make our dream come true!
Having enormous potential and wanting to integrate all the strengths of our family members, our vision and values lead us to constantly think about what our sugar bush of tomorrow will look like, while retaining the traditional values of our family and our business.
In 2020, we launched our Courval Mobile Sugar Factory project. Our goal is to bring the “Sugar Shack” experience to businesses, schools and corporate events. Using our little trailer in the colors of the maple grove and our refrigerated food table, we reward teams and groups with a sweet moment.
With the busy 2020 we had, we were victims of our success; We ran out of maple syrup! Being aware of the current demand, we have made the decision to add taps and increase our production capacity! We have changed our equipment in order to be more energetically efficient. Since 2021, we have been tapping 4,300 maple trees.
In the fall of 2023, Félix and Laurie officially became shareholders in the company with Eric and Nancy. In addition, the 2024 season will be the first season where we will operate a maple syrup contingent with the federation of Quebec maple producers.
We are proud of the family business that we are building!
