The Russian group of companies Belaya Dacha and the Dutch Lamb Weston have launched a French fries plant in the Lipetsk special economic zone, investments in which amounted to 8,7 billion rubles (about 115 million euros), the TASS correspondent reports from the opening of the plant.
The plant is expected to reach full production capacity by the end of 2019 - approximately 200 tonnes of potatoes per year. The first consumer of the plant's products will be the McDonald's fast food restaurant chain, with which a long-term partnership has been built for the supply of French fries, and it is expected that they will soon establish contacts with other catering companies and retail chains in the country.
“The potato processing plant is one of the key priority projects for the Belaya Dacha group of companies. We believe that with the new plant we will be able to successfully master this new direction of food production in Russia, ”said Viktor Semyonov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Belaya Dacha Group, at the opening of the production.
“Together with our partner Belaya Dacha, we built this plant in Lipetsk, which provides an opportunity to expand our position in the Russian market, supporting our key international clients in optimizing their value chain, developing business in the region and meeting domestic demand” Lamb Weston CEO Bas Alblas said:
"With the opening of the French fries plant, 98% of McDonald's products will be supplied by domestic suppliers, and this is more than 160 flagship companies in the Russian agro-industrial complex," added Khamzat Khasbulatov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of McDonald's in Russia.
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