La Lorraine Bakery Group acquired 50% of Bakery de France’s business, a US-based company. The joint venture will supply the North American market. Bakery de France, a frozen bakery company located in Washington DC, is one of the market leaders in artisanal bake-off bread in the North American retail and food service market. It was founded nearly 40 years ago and is managed by the Salameh family.

“We are thrilled to announce a significant milestone in the history of Bakery de France. We proudly joined forces with La Lorraine Bakery Group NV, marking the beginning of a new and exciting chapter for our family-owned and operated business,” Bakery de France said in a post.

Its CEO, Alexander Salameh, also commented on the new venture: “For nearly 40 years, Bakery de France has grown as an innovative, dynamic and dependable partner for our customers. Today, we are proud to continue scaling by joining forces with LLBG, a strong partner who shares our core values of focusing on quality and customer service in a family-owned environment. This partnership further reinforces our commitment to our customers and our team members as we continue our exciting journey together.”

Guido Vanherpe, La Lorraine CEO, said in a statement: “We are very happy and proud that we can start a new growth story on a new continent together with the Salameh family. After more than 80 years of growth in more than 35 countries on the European continent, Turkey and the Middle East, we now have a great opportunity to scale our expertise and further expand our international footprint to the North American market,” Yahoo Finance quoted.

With a staff of around 5,000 people, La Lorraine Bakery Group has  17 production sites located in Belgium, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Hungary, Italy, Greece and the UAE. The group grew its revenue last year by 17%, with a net profit after tax of EUR 50.6m (up 48% from the previous year).

Photo: Bakery de France LinkedIn