Alsa yeast: almost all production will be harvested in Strasbourg

Little pink packets won’t leave the Grand Est. Alsa yeast production will be consolidated in Strasbourg, German group Dr. Oetker, which sold the plant in Lorraine to the Italian company Newlat, retaining the Alsa brand.

“All production will be concentrated at the Strasbourg site, where Alsa desserts and cakes are already being prepared,” said Dr. Oetker. The yeast will be produced “90% in France, in Strasbourg” and the “complement” will be produced “at factories in Germany and Italy,” the group said.

“After significant investment, a new yeast production line was commissioned in 2023, and the volumes of other preparations were transferred to existing lines,” he said.

The sale of Ludres (Meurthe et Moselle), effective from 1 January, represents an investment of 20 million euros for Newlat, which aims to achieve a turnover of 50 million euros by 2024 with this new company and the marketing of part of Minuto branded products. and profit before tax (Ebitda) of 5 million euros. The site of the Alsa brand, created in 1897 in Lorraine, was transferred to the disposal of a special agent in September.

Ludres employees handed over to Italian group

“Contrary to what was reported in some media, this takeover does not mean the end of production in France of the brand with small pink bags,” insisted Dr. Oetker’s group, according to which “it was never in (her) intention (…) to stop its production and marketing activities in France.

Dr. Oetker also explains that he “found work at his facility in Ludres, renamed EM Foods” where “all of his employees, that is 93 employees, were transferred to the Italian group.” The Ludres plant was already purchased by Dr. Oetker from the Unilever Group at the same time as the Alsa brand in 2018. At that time, it employed 140 employees.