Finnish group invests 45 million in Belgian Tex-Mex factory

The Poco Loco factory in Roeselare, Belgium, was already the largest European factory for Tex-Mex food, but now the Finnish owner Paulig is investing another 45 million euros in a new production hall for tortilla wraps, among other things.

Factory has reached its limit

The investment is desperately needed, because the factory of Texan-Mexican delicacies such as tortillas and tacos is growing rapidly and is reaching its limits, Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports. In the last ten years, the company doubled its turnover to reach 297 million euros last year. The sales of Poco Loco are growing by more than 6 % annually.

The Covid crisis boosted this growth, which led to solid growth in all segments of home consumption. However, Paulig does not expect this increase to stop when the health crisis is over: “Tex-Mex is gaining in popularity”, CEO Rolf Ladau explained.

120 new jobs

The new production hall will provide space for three lines, on top of the 29 lines already running at full speed. The company does emphasise that the hall will be built “for growth”: initially, the new building will not be used to its full capacity. Nevertheless, Poco Loco already creates 120 new jobs with this investment, on top of the 727 people already working there.

95 % of the production of the Poco Loco factory is exported to other European countries, under the brand names Poco Loco and Santa Maria. In addition, the factory also produces products for the private labels of supermarket chains.