CUSTOMER STORY
Coeur de Lion x Tilkal
Turning milk origin into a verified story for consumers through Digital product Passports
Cœur de Lion, the iconic French cheese brand owned by the Savencia Group, partnered with Tilkal to become the first brand in the packaged cheese market to commit to end-to-end transparency and traceability using blockchain technology, turning proof of local milk origin into a direct, scannable conversation with consumers (Digital Product Passport).
What's in the use case?
Background
Consumer trust in food products is under real pressure: only 47% of Europeans say they trust the integrity of food products (EIT Food, 2022). In that context, transparency has become a genuine lever for differentiation and growth, and traceability - the evidence layer behind transparency - has become critical: brands need to demonstrate their commitments, not just state them. For Cœur de Lion, whose coulommiers cheeses are built on the promise of local, high-quality milk, that meant giving consumers a way to verify the story for themselves through a Digital Product Passport, batch by batch.
Scope of the traceability initiative
The project covers the full lifecycle of Cœur de Lion’s coulommiers, from milk collection in Normandy (France), through curdling, aging, and packaging, all the way to the consumer. Tilkal’s platform integrates via API with Cœur de Lion’s existing warehouse management system, aggregating data on milk origin, transport, manufacturing, and quality across 8,000+ milk producing sites.
Key success factors
- A phased rollout validated by a real pilot: a four-month pilot phase in 2023 covering 6 million cheeses proved feasibility before the initiative became permanent in February 2024, when it extended to all coulommiers production.
- Minimal operational disruption, thanks to an automated API interface with Cœur de Lion’s pre-existing WMS rather than a parallel process.
- A B2C layer designed for adoption, not friction: a mobile transparency app accessible via QR code, with no download required.
- GDPR-compliant consumer analytics, giving the brand insight into scan location, ratings, and comments without compromising data protection.
- A phased rollout validated by a real pilot: a four-month pilot phase in 2023 covering 6 million cheeses proved feasibility before the initiative became permanent in February 2024, when it extended to all coulommiers production.
- Minimal operational disruption, thanks to an automated API interface with Cœur de Lion’s pre-existing WMS rather than a parallel process.
- A B2C layer designed for adoption, not friction: a mobile transparency app accessible via QR code, with no download required.
- GDPR-compliant consumer analytics, giving the brand insight into scan location, ratings, and comments without compromising data protection.
Key outcomes
- All coulommiers cheeses in distribution now carry a QR code, since the initiative became permanent in February 2024.
- 1 scan every 5 minutes on average since the project’s 2023 launch - a direct, measurable signal of consumer engagement with the transparency story.
- A 4.6/5 rating for the transparency mobile app from consumers who used it.
- The 2024 Responsible Marketing Award, in the category “Transparency and Origin of Manufacture Thanks to AI”, external validation of both the initiative and its execution.
- All coulommiers cheeses in distribution now carry a QR code, since the initiative became permanent in February 2024.
- 1 scan every 5 minutes on average since the project’s 2023 launch - a direct, measurable signal of consumer engagement with the transparency story.
- A 4.6/5 rating for the transparency mobile app from consumers who used it.
- The 2024 Responsible Marketing Award, in the category “Transparency and Origin of Manufacture Thanks to AI”, external validation of both the initiative and its execution.
Key figures
- 8,000+ milk producing sites monitored as part of the initiative
- 6 million coulommiers featured a QR code during the 2023 pilot
- 8,000+ milk producing sites monitored as part of the initiative
- 6 million coulommiers featured a QR code during the 2023 pilot
Cœur de Lion shows how the same Supply Chain Data Hub logic that powers regulatory Digital Product Passports elsewhere in Tilkal’s customer base can also power a pure consumer-engagement use case: one data layer, reused for a different business goal.
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