Milcobel buys cheese shredder Kaasbrik in Belgium
Belgian dairy cooperative Milcobel has announced the takeover of cheese shredding and packaging company Kaasbrik, established in Limburg, Belgium. Family firm Kaasbrik, which has approximately 30 employees, a volume of 10,500 tons of cheese and a turnover of €40 million, has positioned itself as a specialist with a strong market position in shredding mozzarella during the past 30 years. In addition, it also specialises in shredding, packing and marketing other hard and semi-hard cheeses (eg, cheddar, Emmental and the like) for the professional market. In this way, Milcobel is also further expanding its own brand portfolio with the cheese- shredding brands of Kaasbrik and PIzzaiolo. Kaasbrik has customers in over 20 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Afrika.
Nils van Dam, Milcobel CEO (pictured) says: “Our takeover of Kaasbrik will enable us to further strengthen our position as a significant player on the global mozzarella market. Milcobel and Kaasbrik complement one another extremely well. Mozzarella is a difficult high-quality product that requires the necessary expertise, for which we have found an ideal partner in Kaasbrik.”
Francis Relaes, managing director of the Milcobel dairy premium ongredients business, adds: “Kaasbrik enables us to further optimise our degree of service and customer orientation. Interesting synergies are being created regarding export markets such as Asia, where mozzarella consumption is on the rise and where Milcobel has already built up a strong market position during the past several years.”
Milcobel is the main Belgian dairy cooperative. The Milcobel Group has six branches in Belgium and France. In 2020, the company processed 1.8 billion litres of milk into dairy products such as cheese, butter, milk powder, ice cream, milk drinks, cream and whey. In addition to its own brands (including Brugge Cheese & butter, Nazareth, Inza, Inco, Binco Incolac) and private label consumer products for retailers, Milcobel produces raw materials and ingredients for the food industry (including mozzarella). Milcobel has been active in the mozzarella business for more than 20 years.
