Royal A-ware buys Asturias dairy plant from Danone

The family business will be investing in the factory to make it more sustainable, producing mozzarella from 2024 onwards

Food company Royal A-ware, which specialises in dairy products, has reached an agreement with the French firm Danone to acquire the latter's dairy plant in the Asturian town of Salas. The buyer is a 130-year-old family-owned business from the Netherlands which currently produces fresh dairy products, cream, tapas, milk powder and cheese, in addition to other products.

The Danone plant was primarily focused on the production of cottage cheese and desserts. Royal A-ware's aim is to invest in the existing facilities, making them more sustainable, and preparing them for the production of cow's milk mozzarella. The plant is scheduled to be re-commissioned in 2024.

Milk from the region
The company has committed to only using milk from farmers in the region in the new factory. However, interested farmers will still have to wait for the round of talks, which has not yet been scheduled.

Royal A-ware CEO Jan Anker praised the deal, “This acquisition is in line with Royal A-ware's strategy to supply as wide a range of products as possible. In Salas we’ll be producing mozzarella for retail and hospitality customers around the world. We've invested in this dairy facility to better meet their needs. In this way, we’ll also be giving local dairy farmers in the region opportunities for long-term growth.”

International presence
With 27 branches around the world, Royal A-ware has over 3,000 employees, works with more than 1,000 milk producers, and processes over two billion litres of milk a year. The company has cheese dairies in the Netherlands and Italy, as well as twelve production plants, soon to be joined by the one in Salas.

As reported in the newspaper La Nueva España, the Asturian plant opened its doors in 1981, and produced 32,000 tonnes of soft cheese per year. The building has a floor area of 7,600 square metres, and stands on a 40,700 square metre plot. In its final stages, the plant had around eighty employees, who reached a collective redundancy agreement including a commitment that those who wanted to do so could transfer to other Danone facilities, and that their jobs would be secure in the event of finding a buyer. For the time being, Royal A-ware has not made any comments about hiring the plant’s former employees.

Photo: Royal A-ware