Baking & Snack - June 2018 - 14

Bimbo expanding in China
Grupo Bimbo, Mexico City, has signed an agreement to acquire
Mankattan Group, a major baking company in China.
Mankattan bakes sliced bread, cake, buns and Yudane (a
Japanese-style sandwich bread) as well as other baked foods and
supplies "modern, traditional and quick-service restaurant customers in China," Bimbo said in a press release.
The Chinese baking
company has 1,900 employees and operates four
plants, serving the urban
and surrounding markets
of Beijing (population
25 million), Shanghai
(35 million), Sichuan (87
million) and Guangdong
(104 million).
The transaction remains subject to "customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals," according to Bimbo, which
entered the Chinese market around 2006. In a 2012 interview with
Milling & Baking News, Daniel Servitje, CEO, Grupo Bimbo, said
the company was enjoying good growth in China but still had a
limited geographic footprint.
"We are basically a Beijing and northern China baker," Mr.
Servitje said. "We certainly aren't serving the entire nation. We
bake some long-shelf-life items and some fresh products. The
population is about 100 million in our market, but with a tiny percapita. Overall, the Chinese market is very small on a per-capita
basis in our industry compared with others. Second, we're small in
our industry. We're not the leading baker in China."
-Josh Sosland, Milling & Baking News

Fritsch USA opens North
America testing center
Fritsch USA, Cranbury, NJ, opened its new showroom and testing
center in May and welcomed more than 30 people to the facility
for its grand opening.
The test center is for small- to mid-size wholesale bakers looking to test equipment for their products. This is the first center of
its kind for Fritsch in North America. The company has a larger
center in Europe for mid-size to large bakeries around the world.
At the grand opening, Fritsch personnel showcased the company's Rollfix 700 dough sheeting line, which can reduce pie
dough, Brioche, and Lavash dough down to 0.3 mm. The event
also featured demonstrations of production for cream cheesefilled Brioche swirls and proofing and baking methods.

14 Baking & Snack June 2018 / www.bakingandsnack.com

Nestle launches nutrition
initiative to help children
Nestle, Vevey, Switzerland, launched "Nestle for Healthier Kids," a
global initiative geared toward development of healthier products
and advice for families on nutrition and exercise.
In 2017, Nestle said it launched more than 1,000 products with
a focus on meeting the nutritional needs of children. Last year, the
company also provided 174 billion servings of fortified foods and
beverages in 66 countries where people lack essential micronutrients such as iron, iodine and vitamin A.
"We want to help parents make healthier choices for their children," said Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestle. "This is why we are accelerating our efforts to support families in raising healthier kids,
and we call on others to join us in this endeavor."
The company has pledged to meet the following goals by
2020. The company will add at least 750 million portions of
vegetables to its products; add at least 300 million portions of
fiber-rich grains, pulses, nuts and seeds to its products; and
further reduce sugars by 5%. The company has reduced sugars
by more than 34% since 2000. Additionally, Nestle will further
reduce salt by 10%. The company has reduced salt by more
than 20% since 2005.
-Eric Schroeder, Milling & Baking News

Aryzta unveils €200 million
restructuring plan
The board of directors of Aryzta AG, Zurich, Switzerland, approved
a three-year restructuring plan to restore financial flexibility and improve the company's asset and cost base to its current revenue run
rate. The plan is expected to deliver €200 million in cost savings,
Aryzta said.
"Aryzta has identified and is addressing the challenges facing the historical business model and the industry generally and
will stay focused on its core, the frozen B2B bakery market," said
Kevin Toland, CEO. "As part of the ongoing process, the group
has sold selected loss-making assets, rationalized headcount and,
under the new management, put in place a series of efficiency and
cost reduction activities to accelerate performance improvement.
As part of this process, we are also today announcing a three-year,
€200 million restructuring and cost reduction plan aimed at restoring financial flexibility and aligning our asset and cost base
with current and expected business conditions."
The announcement came with the release of Aryzta's third-quarter trading update. Overall, total group revenue in the third quarter
totaled €811.4 million ($951.6 million), down 17% from the same
period a year ago.
-Eric Schroeder, Milling & Baking News

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Baking & Snack - June 2018

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