The Canadian food group McCain will invest €75 million in expanding the fries factory in Lewedorp in Zeeland (photo). The money is not so much invested in expanding production capacity, but mainly in the activities surrounding it. The program includes a new wastewater treatment plant, a new packaging line, a modernized cold store and an optimized logistics center.
The work will start this summer and is expected to last three years, McCain announced in a press release this morning. In the statement, the group expresses its confidence in the Netherlands and specifically Zeeland with its growers as an important region for high-quality chip potatoes. With the investments, McCain expects to significantly improve its competitive position and, in the long term, the sustainability performance of the Lewedorp factory.
"McCain has a long and fruitful history spanning fifty years in the Netherlands. I am therefore pleased that we are continuing this history with a large-scale modernization operation of the production facility in Lewedorp. This investment opens up new opportunities to better serve our customers with superior product quality while supporting our growth strategy," Alain Duranleau, regional president of McCain Continental Europe, said in the statement.
McCain has more than fifty production facilities worldwide, nine of which are located in the Netherlands. Two facilities operate as McCain factories; five branches belong to sister company Van Geloven, known for brands such as Mora and Van Dobben. The other two production locations in Kruiningen and Rilland belong to the recently acquired Dutch and globally operating company Scelta Products, which is integrated into McCain Appetizers Europe.