Dutch food company Royal A-ware plans to close a dairy factory in Belgium operated by its subsidiary Olympia, putting more than a 100 jobs at risk.
Olympia’s Herne plant near Pajottegem in Flemish Brabant province produces cream, oatmeal desserts and other puddings, yoghurt, milk and chocolate milk, Royal A-ware confirmed with Just Food.
However, because the plans are in the early stages the company was unable to say what will happen to production.
Family-run Olympia produces products under its namesake brand and also for private-label customers. The company also operates in the B2B sector for the likes of dairy firms Danone and Lactalis in France, and the Belgian milk cooperative Milcobel, according to its website.
It has an annual turnover of around €80m ($90m) and employs 168 people. The business claims to supply “almost every supermarket chain in Belgium”, the website says.
“Olympia has been struggling with negative financial results since 2018. The Belgian dairy producer became part of the Royal A-ware food group in September 2022. With this, Royal A-ware prevented the closure of Olympia at the time,” Royal A-ware said in a statement.
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By GlobalDataRoyal A-ware has invested in Olympia to increase efficiency but it said “too many of the installations and infrastructure are so outdated that complete new construction is needed to meet current and future efficiency and quality requirements”, adding that “the investments this requires are not economically justifiable”.
Royal A-Ware has concluded the only path is closure: “There has been a diligent search for ways to make Olympia profitable. The conclusion of all this research has been negative. Therefore, Olympia unfortunately sees no possibilities to continue its activities at the Pajottegem site.”
Royal A-ware, headquartered in the Dutch town of Lopik, has operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and the US.
Anker, the company’s chief executive, is from the Anker Kaas family business that merged operations with Bouter Cheese in 2010 to create Royal A-ware.
It announced its plans to acquire Belgium-based peer The Dairy Food Group in July. The deal included The Dairy Food Group’s businesses such as daily milk collection group BMC, dessert specialists Eurodesserts and fromage-frais-to-milk drinks supplier Limelco.
In 2023, it snapped up a dairy facility from Danone in Salas, Spain, to produce cow’s milk mozzarella.
