LEADING bread manufacturer Gardenia Bakeries is investing nearly P1 Billion in a fully automated bread manufacturing plant in Mindanao to serve the continuously growing bread demand in the south.
Gardenia’s president Jun Umali said the company will soon be constructing a new state-of-the-art bread manufacturing facility in a 2.5 hectare land in PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental, adjacent to Cagayan de Oro (CDO).
“Gardenia’s Mindanao plant is a completely new breadline that will feature robotics and the latest available technologies in modern baking sourced from the best bakery equipment suppliers from all over the world like in Germany, the Netherlands, United States, United Kingdom, Malaysia and Japan,” Umali said.
Premium ingredients used in baking are also sourced globally to ensure the high quality and great taste of Gardenia products. “We use flour made from US wheat, milled to Gardenia’s high-quality specifications, milk from Australia or USA, and other imported premium ingredients,” Umali said.
Gardenia will also take advantage of its location to ensure regular availability of ingredients supplies through the ports of CDO.
The manufacturing facility will have a total capacity of producing 130,000 loaves and buns a day which will be distributed with an expanded fleet of trucks all over Mindanao.
Umali said that Mindanao expansion is in line with the company’s thrust to bring fresh, quality products closer to consumers.
“Currently, Gardenia already distributes in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Surigao and Zamboanga del Norte coming from its plant in Cebu, but there is still a big potential for the market,” he explained.
“The new plant will cater to the increasing bread demand of Mindanao and will ensure greater availability of Gardenia loaves and buns across various distribution channels in the southern part of the country,” Umali added.
The Mindanao plant is Gardenia’s third large manufacturing plant in the country with the first and the biggest plants situated in Laguna for Luzon market’s bread demand, and second in Cebu for the Visayas market. /PR
