The American chocolate and cookie giant Mondelēz is investing €80 million in France, including €50 million to rebuild a LU plant that burned down.
The American snacks conglomerate Mondelēz, owner of France’s iconic LU cookie brand, is investing over €50 million to rebuild the plant near Jussy, in the Hauts-de-France region, that was severely damaged by a fire nine months ago. The investment will allow the world’s largest cookie company – with $27 billion in annual revenue – to modernize the factory, which should be entirely operational by mid-2022, making it both more flexible and more competitive. The firm will also be pouring another €30 million into its eight other sites in France.
“Thanks to new technologies and the increased production capacity that this investment will provide, the new site in Jussy will play a key role in pursuing our ambition for growth on the European cookie and biscuit market, with local brands like LU Napolitain and LU Pépito,”
Vince Gruber, Executive Vice President and President, Europe of Mondelēz International, emphasizes. Known around the world, the LU brand, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, is present in Europe and the United States, as well as both North and Central Africa.
– A Very Strong Brand Position in France-
The French biscuit and cookie leader also owns other nationally and globally renowned brands, like Granola, Mikado and Oreo. “Approximately 60% of the cookies we sell in France are produced locally in one of our nine biscuit, cookie, cake and cracker plants,” Amélie Vidal-Simi, President of Mondelēz International in France, points out.
France is also where the firm launched a program in 2007 that was designed to stimulate more environmentally friendly agricultural practices. That program now has 1,100 participating French farmers. Together they supply some 90,000 tons of wheat for the LU cookies sold in France. The program has also been extended to other European nations (Belgium, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic and Hungary) and aims to cover 100% of the firm’s wheat needs for its European cookie brands by 2022.
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