The first phase of Zalaco's green field investment has been completed - VIDEO REPORT
2019. 09. 16.
As a significant contributor to the Hungarian food industry, Zalaco is growing its capacities with a greenfield investment in Zalaegerszeg. The Hungarian company, with further plants in Ajka and Sopron, is an important representative of the domestic bakery sector. Boasting with a selection of hundreds of types of products, it makes more than 100 million items every year, reaching both the Hungarian and the international markets. The current investment will result in the creation of an additional 150 jobs in the county seat of Zala County, also giving way to the establishment of modern and highly automated production lines and warehouses in the area.
Founded a decade ago, Zalaco’s principal activity has been the 'manufacturing' of bread and fresh bakery goods. Its product range is unrivalled in Hungary. As a distributor of almost 400 types of bakery and confectionery products the company operates over 50 outlets in the Transdanubian region. The Zalaco plant makes 7 million kg of bread, 50 million crescent rolls and buns, and 40 million pastry products every year. Cakes and confectionery products come in a great number too.
In 2014 the company established a new production complex in Zalaegerszeg, creating 51 jobs with the investment, and a year later it opened its Ajka and Sopron plants. In 2018 the company's revenue came to around HUF 8.5 billion, with the employment of 580 people, as recent data suggest.
Today's expansion was necessitated by limited production and storage capacities. With this greenfield project, worth around EUR 13 billion (HUF 4 billion), Zalaco is expanding its production infrastructure for frozen bakery and confectionery products with a fully automated warehouse and two production plants equipped with modern technology. With this step, considerable improvements are made to its pastry, bread and frozen pastry producing capacity in Zalaegerszeg, in order to permanently meet the increased demand.
The Hungarian food industry is dynamically growing. The production value kept on growing in recent years to exceed HUF 3,200 billion in 2018, which is a 7% increase compared to 2017.
The sustained pace of this improvement, however, requires Hungarian actors in the agricultural and food industry to quickly adapt and take advantage of modern technologies, including the latest digital solutions in the field. This endeavour is also supported by Hungary's recent Digital Agrostrategy, which sets out concrete action for a digitized agriculture for the period 2019-2022.
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