Bonduelle is Rebuilding and Extending its Italian Factory

This new factory, which represents an investment of some 20 million euros, along with that of Battipaglia in the south of the peninsula, will provide Bonduelle with high performance production facilities.

22 Dec 2009 --- The Bonduelle Group announces the construction of a new factory producing ready-to-eat packaged salads (salads in the so-called “ready-to-use” range) in San Paolo d’Argon in the Italian province of Bergamo.

With a production capacity of 20,000 tons and 200 employees, this ultra-modern factory will be built on the site of the former factory, which burned down in February 2008, and in close proximity to the headquarters of Bonduelle Italy.

In 2008 Bonduelle had three production sites in Italy, in San Paolo d’Argon and Costa di Mezzate in Bergamo, and in Battipaglia in the province of Salerno. On 28 February 2008 the San Paolo factory was gutted by a fire, in which thankfully no one was hurt. Thanks to their quick response, the Bonduelle Italy teams succeeded in limiting the impact on deliveries to a minimum by relocating production to the Costa di Mezzate site 5 kilometres away, and to a new workshop constructed within a few months and located 15 kilometres away in the town of Lallio, a suburb of Bergamo.

After a 2008-2009 financial year that was marked by a downturn in consumption, the current revival of the Italian salad market means that Bonduelle, which is far and away the market leader with a 40% share, needs to reconfigure its production facilities. When the new San Paolo d’Argon unit is commissioned in spring 2011, the factories at Costa di Mezzate and Lallio will be closed, and staff and production from these two sites returned to San Paolo.

This new factory, which represents an investment of some 20 million euros, along with that of Battipaglia in the south of the peninsula, will provide Bonduelle with high performance production facilities enabling it to offer its mass retail and out-of-home catering clientele competitive and high quality products and services.