Austrian Bakery Expands in Hungary

Wewalka is launching a major development project at its site in Celldömölk, W Hungary. The Austrian bakery company intends to erect a new two-storey production building and purchase all the production and freezing lines required, while maintaining production.

The EUR 15 million development that had its foundation stone laying ceremony this Friday will see an expansion in the company's product portfolio and a one-and-a-half times increase in production capacities. Moreover, 20 new jobs will be created, the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) reports.

Wewalka, which was established in Sollenau, Austria in 1987 as a master-baking company, is one of the world's leading, globally operating fresh dough producers employing about 700 people. Thanks to the use of state-of-the-art technologies, the Austrian family-owned company offers a wide range of fresh dough products available in almost 30 European countries, and since 2015, it has been also producing in the US as well. Wewalka's fresh dough is produced at the company's central site and at the Hungarian plant exclusively.

The company has been present in Celldömölk since 2006. Initially, the site focused on the production of cakes, however, due to new market trends, the production was later switched to fresh dough products.

Recent events have further increased the market demand for fresh dough products, and therefore, the Wewalka has decided to expand its Celldömölk site: plans involve the construction of a two-storey building equipped with a highly automated, universal fresh dough producing, freezing and packaging line, and the installation of other related machinery. The project, which will be finished in the summer of 2021 , will be followed by another comprehensive phase as well, focusing on automation. As the result of this, the Hungarian site will achieve higher technological standards, thus improving competitiveness across the whole corporate group.

With these strategic investment projects, Wewalka strongly emphasises the fact, that the Hungarian production site plays a key role in the dynamically growing company's success. Moreover, due to contracts being concluded with SMEs in the region, such developments also contribute to the strengthening of local enterprises.