€30 million investment secures position as a world leading pizza cheese supplier
Ornua, Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products has announced the official opening of its new, €30 million, state-of-the-art cheese production facility in Ávila, Spain.
The new facility has been built on the former Ornua cheese manufacturing site, opening two years to the day since that site was sadly destroyed by a devastating fire. The 35,000-tonne mozzarella and pizza cheese facility, with plans to increase to 70,000-tonne, greatly enhances Ornua’s pizza cheese making capacity and capability securing its position as a world leading pizza cheese supplier.
Ornua supplies enough cheese for over 100 million pizzas each year.
The reopening of the Ávila facility also marked the creation of Ornua Ingredients Europe which brings Ornua’s Spanish and UK Ingredients businesses together. The new division is a supplier of cheese and dairy powder ingredients.
The rebuild of the facility, which employs over 120 people, included a major expansion and processing technology upgrade. As a result, the Ávila facility is now equipped to play a major role in Ornua’s growth strategy of diversifying its product portfolio and building scale: reinforcing Ornua’s position as a major supplier of mozzarella and pizza cheese blends for both European and global pizza chains.
Speaking at the opening, John Jordan, Ornua CEO said, “Today’s opening of our new cheese facility here in Ávila is fully in line with Ornua’s growth strategy of investing in world-class strategic production facilities to secure long term returns for Irish dairy farmers. This major investment will play a key role in enhancing our cheese ingredients capacity and capabilities. It will reinforce our position as a leading, large scale supplier of high-quality dairy ingredients to many leading Spanish, European and global food manufacturing and food service customers. Our new Avila R&D Centre of Excellence becomes the 10th innovation centre in our international network, which will ensure that Ornua has the capability to support our customers at the forefront of the rapidly changing dairy ingredients market.”
Commenting on the opening of the facility, Irish Ambassador to Spain, Sile Maguire said, “The new Ornua facility in Ávila reflects Irish and Spanish commitment to excellence and innovation in the food industry, and to our shared confidence in this vital sector.”
The Ávila site features a R&D Centre of Excellence with a pilot plant and innovation kitchen dedicated to developing the next generation of pizza cheese and cheese ingredients for the $130 billion global pizza market.