Gardenia opens 11-billion bakery in Mindanao, sees 35% sales growth

Gardenia Bakeries, the country’s largest breadmaker, forecasts a robust 35 percent increase in sales this year following the opening of its fully automated 11-billion state-of-the-art plant in Mindanao, which will serve the growing demand for quality bread in the south, as well as augment the huge bread requirements in the Visayas.

Gardenia Bakeries Philippines President Simplicio Umali Jr. said at the inauguration of the new plant that they sold 16.6 billion worth of bread in 2018. Luzon accounted for 70 percent of total sales.

The new plant, which is located in a 2.5 hectare lot in PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate, in Misamis Oriental, adjacent to Cagayan de Oro City, has a capacity of producing 130,000 loaves and buns a day which will be distributed all over the region. It features four production lines – first, a 4,000 loaves per hour loaf line; second, a flavored loaf line; third, a bun and pandesal line and; fourth, a snack toast line.

“It is now the most advanced bread manufacturing plant in Mindanao,” said Umali.

Umali explained that the location of the new plant, which is just adjacent to Cagayan de Oro, is a strategic move.

“Our new plant is purposefully located not only for Mindanao commercial operations. This will also serve as support to our Cebu plant or Visayas market. We can also dispatch breads easily to other areas when the need arrives, especially in the event of major calamities or natural disasters in those areas,” he explained.

With the new plant, Gardenia’s flour requirement will now increase up to 250 tons a ta day from 170 tons previously. But there is still more room for improvement because bread consumption among Filipinos is stil very low at .75 kilos per capita as against Malaysia’s 3.5 to 4 kgs, Singapore’s 3 kgs and Japan’s 7-8 kgs.

“We are now bringing Gardenia breads closer to our consumers with the opening of our newest plant. With our current distribution capabilities, Gardenia is available in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Surigao and Zamboanga del Norte, Butuan and Kidapawan but we will intensify our market penetration and saturation to widen our network, and eventually, reach every corner of Mindanao,” Umali said.

“This completely new breadline features robotics and the latest innovations in modern baking. All major equipment are sourced from the best and reliable bakery equipment suppliers in Germany, the Netherlands, United States, Malaysia and Japan,” Umali shared.