The Christophe confectionery factory (Globus Elite LLC) will invest 3,5 billion rubles in the construction of a new plant for the production of potato wedges and hashbrowns. Kommersant-SPb spoke about the project with reference to the company’s owners.
Construction of the plant is planned to begin in the spring of 2024 at the Novoorlovskaya site of the St. Petersburg special economic zone.
Initially, the co-owners of the factory, Vladimir Rakhlis and Christoph Laermans, talked about plans to produce innovative enzyme-modified cheese concentrates, on the basis of which cheese toppings and snacks would be made. But later the entrepreneurs decided to expand production.
Vladimir Rakhlis said that the company also plans to start producing semi-finished potato products: wedges, hashbrowns and potato pancakes. French fries are not included in this list.
“By 2025–2026, Russian manufacturers will completely meet their needs for this product, so we are not considering it for ourselves. But no one here yet makes traditional Russian dishes from grated potatoes, such as pancakes or potato pancakes. We also want to produce fried potatoes with mushrooms,” said Vladimir Rakhlis.
Market experts agreed that such semi-finished products may be in demand in public catering. But the consumer habit of buying frozen pancakes has yet to be formed.
The project implementation period is 2025.