Barry Callebaut, the business-to-business chocolate maker, claims to be the “heart and engine” of the industry. Under the stewardship of CEO Patrick De Maeseneire, the Swiss firm has become the leading player in its sector after a series of astute deals. Dean Best reports.
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Life is sweet for Patrick De Maeseneire right now.
The CEO of Switzerland-based Barry Callebaut has presided over the company’s development into the leading business-to-business chocolate maker on the planet.
Last year, Callebaut secured major supply deals with industry giants Cadbury, Hershey and Nestlé, companies looking to outsource chocolate production to keep costs down. Such agreements give Callebaut huge clout in the sector; its claim to be the “heart and engine” of the chocolate industry is no hollow boast.
In the opening weeks of 2008, De Maeseneire has seen Callebaut’s positive momentum continue. The announcements of the opening of a chocolate factory in China and the finalisation of a production and supply deal in Japan may not have been unexpected but both deals speak volumes for Callebaut’s potential in Asia, a key emerging region in the chocolate business.
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By GlobalDataIn China, De Maeseneire is betting on the fact that current low chocolate consumption will rise rapidly in the years ahead. Annual chocolate consumption in China stands at 100g per person, according to Callebaut, compared to 11kg per capita in Western Europe. The company has forecast that chocolate consumption in China is expected to grow by 8.8% a year over the next five years.
Callebaut’s deal in Japan, with local confectioner Morinaga, is its latest outsourcing deal and gives the company much needed capacity to serve the wider Asian market.
Both deals have been overseen by the astute De Maeseneire, a Belgian who became Callebaut’s CEO six years ago. Belgium may be one of the countries most synonymous with chocolate – and is indeed a country at the heart of Callebaut’s history – but the 50-year-old’s background is rooted elsewhere. His career has taken in sectors as diverse as recruitment and computing.
De Maeseneire took the helm at the chocolate maker in 2002, six years after the merger between French chocolate company Cacao Barry and Belgian chocolatier Callebaut. Under his stewardship, the company has expanded its presence across the globe, from the 2002 acquisition of Germany’s Stollwerck to this week’s opening of a factory in the Chinese city of Suzhou. What’s more, De Maeseneire has plans to expand Callebaut’s international manufacturing footprint still further with markets including Brazil, Ukraine and Indian being targeted.
On analyst believes that Callebaut is leading the pack in its sector. “Barry Callebaut has positioned itself ahead of its competitors, not only in faster-growing geographies but also in the specialism per se of the production of tailor-made, industrial and foodservice chocolate. In a very real sense, it has no competitors and the world is its oyster (or praline).”
Such analysis should leave Callebaut investors – and De Maeseneire – licking their lips.
