L’Ortulinu, an organic bakery and grocery shop

Over the past 7 years, the organic bakery and grocery shop “l’Ortulinu” has become a veritable institution in Bonifacio. It has carved out a special place for itself among locals and tourists alike, with the sole aim of offering organic products and favouring short distribution channels to provide a healthy, balanced diet.

The name of the bakery, ‘l’Ortulinu’, refers to the island tradition of growing vegetables and aromatic plants on terraces – an ancestral practice – and is also a tribute to Annie and Philippe, who have been organic market gardeners for almost 20 years. When they decided to broaden the range of products on offer at the grocery shop, Annie took a bakery CAP.

Jean-Baptiste learnt to bake bread with her, both of them attracted, like the rest of the family, by organic products, naturalness and a certain return to their roots.

“It’s a philosophy, a way of looking at life and products. You can do extraordinary things with basic ingredients that are better for your health than anything produced industrially. At first, people thought we were a bit crazy, but in the end…”.

Today, there are three more bakers in the bakery, including David “who, coming from a traditional bakery, taught us technique, organisation and speed. Our mother brought her knowledge of the material. It’s an exchange of good practices.”

“All this has enabled us to expand our production and sales areas. For the last 3 years, we’ve been welcoming our customers just for a coffee or a lunch break, in a friendly place where the love of good produce and respect for tradition breathe.”

Marie-Emilie and Jean-Baptiste, the children, have pushed the aesthetic side of the breads and other products that adorn the pallets and ladders transformed into the stall: “That’s also what makes the difference, it’s what appeals to the customer. The bread is baked in a traditional wood-fired oven, which gives it a unique flavour, but it’s also beautiful and consistent. Our parents have the ideas, which are a bit rustic, and we take care of putting them to music.”

Our pride today is in showing that a gamble like Ortulinu can become economically viable: “We wanted local and organic produce, which wasn’t always easy to find the right suppliers. Today, they’re all French and have the same dynamic. By dint of our search, we can now extend the range. We’re probably making slower progress than others, but we’re sticking to our ethics and our objectives.”