St Petersburg, Florida, April 25 - Lantmannen Unibake, Europe's leading frozen bakery products supplier, has acquired the Florida-based bakery Euro-Bake and has now established its first production facility in the United States - one of the company's fastest growing markets.
All Lantmannen Unibake products for the US market are currently produced in Europe and then shipped to the US. The company has a need for local production facilities in the US in order to meet growth potential in the market. In 2007, Lantmannen Unibake experienced 25 percent growth in sales in the USA. The company produces Danish pastry, croissants and a variety of frozen bread products for bake-off and retail.
"The demand for Lantmannen Unibake's products is on the rise in the United States and everything suggests a strong potential for continued growth," says Bent Pultz Larsen, CEO in Lantmannen Unibake. "The acquisition of Euro-Bake fulfills an important link in the long-term growth strategy for Unibake - part of which has been to acquire a baked-goods producer with facilities in the United States."
Euro-Bake, which was founded by Harty Gerhard, a German immigrant to the US, in 1993 produces European-inspired bread products such as ciabatta buns, baguettes and focaccia bread. Customers are business to business (B2B) in the United States and include Disney, Arby's and Denny's. Euro-Bake has a particularly strong customer base in south-eastern United States.
The Euro-Bake acquisition comes only a few weeks after Lantmannen Unibake announced the purchase of BACO, a Finnish fast food bakery which will help open the Baltic and Russian markets for Lantmannen Unibake. Both acquisitions are part of a larger worldwide growth strategy, in which Lantmannen Unibake is looking for bakeries that meet their quality, production and growth potential requirements.
"This acquisition is about growth and there is a need for good personnel to help realize this goal," says Bent Pultz Larsen.
Scott Kolinski, General Manager in Lantmannen Unibake's existing sales company based in Chicago, is appointed the new General Manager for the total Lantmannen Unibake USA.
About Euro-Bake
Euro-Bake was founded by Harty Gerhard in 1993 who settled in the Tampa / St. Petersburg area of Florida. The company started selling and distributing German bread to American customers and over the past 15 years it has developed into a modern industrial bakery with three state-of-the-art production lines, nearly 200 employees and 25 million dollars in revenue. In recent years, the company has experienced an average growth of 35 percent and today is recognized as one of the premier artisan bakeries in the USA.
About Lantmannen Unibake
Lantmannen Unibake has almost 4,500 employees and now operates 31 bakeries worldwide. Lantmannen Unibake is the leading bakery group in Europe within frozen bakery products. The company is market leader in the Scandinavian market and has production units in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland, Finland, Belgium, Russia, and now also in the USA. Furthermore, the company has sales companies in Spain, Japan, Korea, the Baltic States and UK (associated company).