Milcobel strengthens its position in mozzarella with the takeover of cheese shredder Kaasbrik

Dairy cooperative Milcobel today announced the takeover of cheese shredding and packaging company Kaasbrik, established in Limburg, Belgium. This takeover is in line with the Milcobel strategy to increase customer-focus and create more added value to be able to achieve a better milk price for its member dairy farmers. With this takeover, Milcobel strengthens its position as one of the leading global companies with regard to producing, processing and marketing mozzarella.

Family firm Kaasbrik, which has approximately 30 employees, a volume of 10,500 tons of cheese and a turnover of 40 million euros, has positioned itself as a specialist with a strong market position in shredding mozzarella during the past 30 years. In addition, they are also specialised in shredding, packing and marketing other hard and semi-hard cheese (e.g. cheddar, Emmental and the like) for the professional market (B-to-B). They provide a wide range of shredded solutions according to customers’ specifications, thanks to their extensive expertise in mozzarella and in custom-made and flexible solutions regarding cuts, packaging, size and price. 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, CEO: “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 Ingredients business, is extremely pleased with this important development: “This acquisition links up perfectly with the strategic plans that we laid down in our business unit last year. 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 years.”