Dutch Bakery, a bakery group specialized in home bake-off bread and snack products, is combining with coolback, a leading German bakery group specialized in bake-off bread. Together, they are creating European Bakery Group, a pan-European bakery platform, according to an announcement made by investor 3i Group plc.

3i invested in Dutch Bakery in October 2021, aiming to grow the company internationally in the European private label market for bake-off bread and snack products, and also support the company in continued investments in its home markets. Since 3i’s investment, Dutch Bakery has expanded by acquiring Trade Factory, a specialty producer of bapao buns and gua bao, and GoodLife Foods Deurne, a specialty producer of sausage rolls.

coolback GmbH is a private-label manufacturer of frozen and MAP-packaged baked goods, previously majority owned by the entrepreneurial family Karl-Heinz Bindewald. coolback is an established industrial bakery group operating three state-of-the-art bakeries in Germany. The is active across Germany, the Nordics and Poland.

By combining Dutch Bakery and coolback, the newly created European Bakery Group will benefit from a complementary product assortment and customer base across Europe. The combination will enable European Bakery Group to offer a comprehensive product assortment to its customers, which is produced sustainably and with natural ingredients at its core.

Bastiaan Peer, Partner at 3i: “Combining coolback and the Dutch Bakery business is at the core of our original investment thesis to drive an international growth strategy in the fragmented European private label market for bake-off bread and snack products. In European Bakery Group we have created a strong pan-European platform, which is well-positioned to capitalize on further organic as well as inorganic growth opportunities.”

Dr. Markus Schirmer and Jürgen Fleige, co-managing directors of coolback, said on the acquisition: “We are very pleased to be joining forces with the European Bakery Group team. Together we will be able to enter new markets, seize the growth opportunities in Germany and benefit from the size and scope of the common base”.

coolback was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Nuthe Glacial Valley. More than 600 full-time employees work at the three locations Hoppegarten, Jänickendorf and Luckenwalde, who produce around 1.2 billion baked goods annually.

Dutch Bakery was founded in 1936. It mainly sells its products to large grocers in the Netherlands and abroad. The company runs six bakeries in the Netherlands – in Alkmaar, Budel, Eindhoven, Rijen, Tilburg and Waalwijk.

Photo: coolback GmbH website