Mondelēz to invest €50m to rebuild French plant after fire

Mondelēz International has announced an approximately €50 million investment to rebuild its bakery plant in Jussy (Aisne), France, following a fire at the site last September.

Through the investment, Mondelēz aims to ‘transform’ the century-old facility in the Hauts-de-France region into a modernised, more flexible plant. The company plans to maintain the site’s current 135 jobs.

The project will see the snack giant add new technologies and capabilities to the site, as well as increased capacity, to support its bakery growth ambitions in Europe. The renovated plant will be inaugurated in the middle of next year.

The facility – which celebrates its 100th anniversary in September – has already restarted one production line.

“As a result of the new technology, capabilities and increased volume capacity that the investment will bring, the new Jussy site will play a key role as we pursue our growth ambition in bakery in Europe, with local brands like Lu Napolitain and Lu Pépito, and expanding global brands like Milka,” said Vince Gruber, executive vice president and president Europe of Mondelēz International.

The project comes on top of an annual investment of €30 million across Mondelēz’s eight other bakery production sites in France.

“About 60% of our biscuits sold in France are produced locally in our nine bakery plants in which we continuously invest,” said Amélie Vidal-Simi, managing director France at Mondelēz International.