Europastry invests 6.5 million in an R&D center in Barberà

Europastry has expanded its network of innovation and development centers with the inauguration of a new R&D Cereal (Center for Research Europastry Advanced Lab) center in Barberà del Vallès. This is the second complex of its kind that the leading company in the frozen bread and dough sector has launched in the Barcelona area ---since 2016 it has another R&D Cereal in Sant Joan Despí--- and the sixth globally.

The new laboratory has involved an investment of 6.5 million euros and has an area of 2,500 square meters. It is equipped with four production lines that will allow the company to develop new products on a small scale so that they can, if successful, be subsequently extrapolated to larger production lines. A team of 90 people works in these new facilities in Barberà del Vallès, including R&D professionals, engineers, and bakers, among whom is Marta San José Gispert, who was runner-up in the so-called Mondial du pan in 2021.

R&D is a central pillar of the Europastry group, which allocated a total of 107 million euros to this item in 2023, a figure that also includes the budget allocated to technology. In total, the company led by Jordi Gallés launched 480 new products on the market last year. They emerged from the Cereal network of centers, where more than 1,500 projects were developed, many of them aimed at creating new tailor-made products for the company's clients, which works for both independent professionals in the bakery sector and large chains and restaurant groups.

"Our leadership position is based on being the most innovative company in the industry in a continuously evolving market where new trends and demands emerge, and we are prepared to respond to them," explains Miguel Fernández, R&D Director of Pastry at Europastry. In this sense, the company points out that the Cereal in Barberà will work "as an open center" that will also welcome chefs, external professionals, and clients to "exchange ideas" that will be "the seed of future Europastry products." Among the first creations to emerge from Barberà are the Dots Brioche and a specialty called New York Roll. 

To bolster its R&D division, Europastry created an open innovation program in 2019, Baking the Future, which, so far, has accelerated eight startups in the R&D Cereal centers.

With record revenue reaching 1.35 billion euros in 2023, up 20%, Europastry is preparing for its stock market debut. This operation could happen this summer and would place the value of the Catalan company above 2.3 billion. JP Morgan, UBS, and ING would be the coordinating banks for the transaction, which will combine the sale of existing shares with the issuance of new titles. The stock market debut will allow the MCH fund, which currently owns around 20% of the group's capital, to exit. The Gallés family, founders of the company, will remain as the reference shareholder. Last year, the bakery group generated an EBITDA of 205 million euros. Spain and Portugal generate 55% of the revenue, and the rest comes from business in North America and Central Europe. In total, Europastry operates in 80 countries and has 26 factories and 30 commercial offices.