Refresco: a new factory for €110M in the Hauts-de-France region

Refresco: a factory in Hauts-de-France to meet growing demand

Already in the Hauts-de-France region, Refresco, the world leader of independent bottling invested €110M for the construction of a new plant in Quesnoy to replace their old site.

This is the biggest industrial investment in the French food sector for the last three years.

“The group’s €110M investment is possible thanks to PepsiCo France’s 10-year business commitment,” Vincent Delozière, CEO of Refresco France.

As a result of this investment, production will be relocated, developed, and modernized in a single plant with cutting-edge technology for economic, social (particularly for occupational health), and environmental performance.

The site will allow the group to increase production capacity to meet growing demands in certain market sectors:

Tea drinks
Organic juices
Flavoured waters
Recycled PET packaging

With a surface area of 32,000m² on a 20-hectare plot, the factory has 4 cardboard production lines and 2 aseptic lines for making bottles containing 50% to 100% recycled PET.

Recruitment and training

To ensure smooth operation of the production lines, the group has:

recruited 60 people, increasing total staff on the site to 130; and
put in place a €1.6M plan to develop skills and to train employees on the new industrial tools.

An investment supported by Nord France Invest

Nord France Invest assisted the group in their investment by:

sourcing public funding; and
providing administrative assistance.

We helped Refresco to obtain €200K of funding from the region and to speed up certain administrative procedures.

Find out how Nord France Invest can help you with your project.

France – a strategic market for Refresco

With 7 factories and 1,180 employees, France is Refresco’s third largest market in the world.

And the market continues to develop. With growth of 44% in 10 years, the bottler shows its confidence with investments of more than €200M over the last 5 years.

“We are very proud of our activity in France. It is a major market for Refresco’s industrial investment and development strategy. This new factory will enable us to work with our customers on new projects in growing sectors and continue to limit our impact on the environment by using state-of-the-art equipment,” explains Vincent Delozière, CEO of Refresco France.

With this investment, the Dutch group hopes to exceed the symbolic target of one billion litres this year, and to strengthen their position as leader in bottling non-alcoholic refreshing drinks (excluding mineral water).

The Hauts-de-France region – ideally located in the centre of the French and European market

Third employer in the French food industry, the Hauts-de-France region is home to over 130 companies and provides 2,000 jobs in the beverage sector.

Like Refresco, Coca Cola and Heineken, many French and international groups have chosen to settle in the region. What are the benefits?

With quick and easy access to the Belgian, British and Dutch markets, Hauts-de-France is the leading region for food industry exports.
An ecosystem that covers the entire industrial chain.

Learn more about the drinks sector in the Hauts-de-France

Source: Refresco