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People staying at home during lockdowns eat more frozen pizza. Dr.Oetker saw its global sales increase by 11% in 2020. The home baking trend was also grist to the fast-food doctor’s mill.
Foodservice plans on hold
“Despite the pandemic, we were able to achieve a very satisfactory result in the 2020 financial year,” said Albert Christmann, chairman of the board at Dr.Oetker. The German company’s sales rose 11% on a like-for-like basis to 3.7 billion euros. Of these sales, 66% came from abroad, which emphasises the pizza maker’s continuing internationalisation and its presence on every continent today.
Although the professional branch experienced weak sales, the regions of Germany and Western Europe benefited from sales increases in supermarkets. Pizzas, baking mixes and desserts in particular were sold more than usual. In Eastern Europe as well, there was notable growth, although this was mitigated by the devaluation of local currencies.
In North and South America, the consequences of the pandemic were felt more strongly than in Europe. Annoyingly, the company was planning to launch its own catering outlets in the US and Germany in 2020. The corona pandemic forced the company to put those plans on hold.
Bakery on the rise
The food manufacturer also invested in new baking and pudding mixes, after acquiring Dutch pastry specialist NewCakes last year for growing bakery subsidiary Conditorei Coppenrath & Wiese. Meanwhile, an internal sustainability strategy was rolled out: 28 project teams are working on the Dr. Oetker Sustainability Charter, with which the company aims to achieve climate neutrality at all locations by 2022. The amount of food waste must be reduced by 25% by 2025.
This year, the Oetker group expects total sales to be at approximately 2020 levels. “A lot certainly depends on the success of vaccination in all countries of the world. Because if we have learned one thing, it is that we need to find joint global solutions. Neither the virus nor the global economy can be impressed by national go-it-alones,” Christmann warns.
