Mademoiselle Desserts Group, the France-based frozen bakery supplier, is planning to spend EUR30m (US$35.5m) over the next 18 months to increase production capacity.
The group said it is putting the money in now so that it is ready to meet an expected increase in demand when the Covid-19 crisis is over.
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Mademoiselle Desserts, based in Montigny-le-Bretonneux, said it has been “strongly impacted by the crisis in the country” but all its sites have remained mobilised since mid-March to “maintain activity and respond from the start of the recovery”.
CEO Didier Boudy said: “We have suffered but we remain confident that consumption will pick up again. We have to think about the after[math] and continue to roll out our plan to be ready when the volumes are there.
“This is the reason why we have validated several investments to the tune of EUR30m to support our customers over the next 18 months.”
Up to EUR22m will be spent on the construction of a new building at its site in Tincques, while the investment cash will also be used to install new production lines for mini-doughnuts and shuttles and to increase the production capacity of muffins and tropéziennes.
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By GlobalDataThe company also wants to update cold installations to help reduce the impact of its activities on the environment.
Mademoiselle Desserts, owned by private-equity firm IK Investment Partners since 2018, has 1,900 employees spread across 12 sites in Europe including nine in France.
In January last year, Mademoiselle Desserts acquired another business in its domestic market, the privately-owned Délices des 7 Vallées.
In September 2018, the company bought French bakery firm Michel Kremer Pastry.
