Maheso will invest 75 million to reach a turnover of 300 million in 2030

From a small family business born in the Sant Andreu neighborhood to a global food group that billed 158 million in 2023, the highest figure in its 45-year history. Given this growth, Maheso aims to continue growing, and aspires for turnover to climb to 300 million by 2030. To achieve this, there is an essential factor: increasing productive capacity by about a third, destined for its three business lines: retail, international and food service, through which they distribute to customers mainly in the horeca channel.

With this objective, the company founded in 1978 will continue to inject five to six million annually into its plant in Montcada i Reixac, where the group has its headquarters and its main production center, of 20,000 square meters. This investment, which will total around 35 million until 2030, will allow the plant's productive capacity to be expanded from the current 19,000 tons to 23,000, below the 28,000 that the company calculates as necessary to reach 300 million by 2030.

To meet this objective, Maheso embarked on the search for a new location to produce the remaining 5,000 necessary tons. This process to find the best location for its new plant has culminated in a municipality ten kilometers from Soria: Garray will host the future plant, of 14,000 square meters and which will directly employ 85 people in 2030, starting with 45 in 2026. The factory, which will focus its production on snacks for oven and airfryer, will begin construction in autumn and will require an investment of 38 million euros, which will come from own funds and bank financing.

Maheso maintains that the purchase of Audens by the Dutch Goodlife Foods positions the Barcelona group as the main local manufacturer

Maheso expects to bill 170 million this year, and currently has a portfolio of more than 11,000 clients, a team of 700 people, and operates in 35 countries across five continents. With the aim of continuing to increase these figures, the company will inject up to 2030 these nearly 75 million into Montcada, the new Soria plant, and its technological area, in an expansion driven by the international channel and the food service channel.

Specifically, Maheso expects the international channel to grow from the 30 million it represented this year to 80 million in 2030, and for food service to go from the current 98 million to 160 million, always with 300 million in sight and with the will to continue consolidating itself as a global food group.

"The continuity of the commitment to Montcada, which is indisputable, and the new plant will provide the 47% increase in production capacity that will allow us to face the 28,000 tons we want to manufacture by 2030", in order to reach those 300 million in turnover, Rojo summarized in a meeting with the press alongside Maheso CEO David Aldea Hernández and its president, José Soler.

Soler was the one who, together with his brother-in-law José Martínez, began in 1978 to prepare dishes such as croquettes and cannelloni and sell them, first as refrigerated, and then as frozen, at a time when this market was beginning to develop: "At that time there were practically no frozen foods, and we entered that adventure", explained Aldea Hernández, who later joined Maheso. The brand precisely groups the surnames of the three original promoters: Martínez, Hernández, and Soler.

The company's capital is distributed among the three families: the Martínez and Soler families each own 36.6%, while the Hernández family owns 26.8%. Full control of Maheso by the founding families was recovered in 2006, by repurchasing the stake that the Luxembourgish company Ibersurgel had acquired ten years earlier. Now, the three families retain 100% of the capital after finally rejecting the entry of a new partner in the autumn, a possibility they had opened up to at the beginning of 2023. In parallel, Maheso opened this year by announcing the purchase of the distributor Iceberg33, which operates in the south of Catalonia.

The acquisition of Audens "stirs up" competition

The frozen food sector has just moved precisely due to another acquisition: that of Audens by the Dutch company Goodlife Foods, controlled by the investment fund IK Partners. The operation occurred after a period of searching for investors opened in 2021 by the Granollers-based company, which has 800 employees and dedicates a large part of its production to Mercadona.

The acquisition of Audens by Goodlife Foods will affect the sector in which Maheso also plays: "When competition heats up, it makes you better," Rojo proclaimed. The general director maintained that, with the acquisition of Audens by the Dutch firm, Maheso positions itself as a major local group in this area, when "for many clients, proximity and a local manufacturer are important."

Selling churros in Japan

The company's activity has led it to have the Montcada plant, the future Soria plant, and offices and warehouses in Madrid, Seville, and Tortosa. Since the 90s, Maheso is not only a manufacturer but also a distributor: currently, 57% of the product it commercializes is self-manufactured, while 43% falls within the distribution area, in a business always under four pillars: "Quality, innovation, service, and sustainability," as Aldea defended.

Precisely innovation plays a main role in Maheso: in its 45 years of trajectory, the company has devised cooking methods for products such as croquettes, which allowed it to launch mini-sized ones known as mahesitos; it was the first to bring frozen nuggets to supermarkets, and the one that created the concept of frozen tapas.

Maheso expects to invoice 170 million this year and currently has a portfolio of more than 11,000 clients and a team of 700 people