Lotus Bakeries

Earlier this year, Lotus Bakeries was present at different career fairs across Belgian Universities and Business Schools. We talked to students from different study fields in search for our next generation of Young Graduates. Each year, it amazes us to see the enthusiasm and drive of so many candidates who are triggered by the uniqueness of our program and who are eager to join us in our ambitious growth trajectory, resulting in a tough task for us to select the right candidates! Finally, 9 young graduates got selected and yesterday, we officially welcomed them into our Lotus family. We saw the full range of emotions pass on their first day, from nervousness and curiousness via enthusiasm and eagerness to happiness and surprise when they saw the full range of products in our Lotus employee store. Or as Sebastiaan Herpelinck mentioned in an unguarded moment; “wow, so many cookies, this isn’t going to end well!”. We wish them all a great time at Lotus Bakeries, filled with challenges and growth opportunities!

We are pleased to share our half-year 2024 results! In the first half of 2024, our Group has achieved a sales growth of almost 20% or EUR 100 million, with growth across international markets and across the three strategic pillars. In addition, Lotus® Biscoff and Lotus™ Natural Foods have realised robust volume growth by their continued momentum across geographical segments. Dive into the details of our Half-Year 2024 results: 👉 Half-Year Report 2024: https://lnkd.in/eQGBpHNk 👉 Press Release: https://lnkd.in/e7A4eSS2

Great progress towards our Group’s goal of 100% technically recyclable packaging for all our brands by 2025! Our sustainable packaging strategy focuses on reducing material use, incorporating innovative designs, and investing in circularity. We aim to use minimal packaging while optimising the use of recycled materials and ensuring that quality, taste and freshness are not compromised. As a result, we are pleased to announce that 100% of BEAR® packaging is now recyclable in the UK!  

Our CEO, Jan Boone, and Mondelēz International’s CEO, Dirk Van de Put, officially celebrated our partnership with a handshake at The Consumer Goods Forum in Chicago! A heartfelt thank you to the entire Mondelēz International team for believing in our Biscoff® brand. We are excited to build on your market expertise and extensive local distribution network to boost Biscoff® in India and enhance our global brand awareness through co-branded chocolate innovations. As our CEO, Jan Boone, stated: “It’s a pleasure to work together, and I am confident that our shared commitment to innovation and quality will delight customers and consumers around the world.” https://lnkd.in/eQbQRgFZ

Exciting partnership announcement! We're thrilled to share that we have partnered with Mondelēz International to boost our Biscoff® cookie brand in India and create innovative co-branded chocolate products globally, starting in Europe. This strategic partnership will significantly extend our Biscoff® footprint in India and enhance our brand's global presence. In addition, by combining our unique Biscoff® taste and crunchy texture with Mondelēz's iconic Cadbury, Milka and other key chocolate brands, we aim to delight consumers with new, exciting products. We are excited about the growth opportunities this collaboration brings and can't wait to embark on this delicious journey together! Learn more about this exciting partnership in our press release: https://lnkd.in/eQbQRgFZ

Today, we were honoured to host Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Senate President Stephanie D’Hose at our office and factory in Lembeke, Belgium. As a proud Belgian family company with over 90 years of history and almost 3,000 employees worldwide - half of whom work in Belgium – Jan Boone (CEO), Isabelle Maes (CEO Natural Foods and CMO Lotus Bakeries) and Mike Cuvelier (CFO) were pleased to share insights into our business, strategic ambitions, sustainability vision, and the production process of our Biscoff® Cookie, Spread and Sandwich Cookie. The warm welcome and enthusiastic response from the Lembeke teams spoke for itself! We are grateful for the opportunity to showcase our commitment to taste, innovation, quality, and sustainability, and to highlight the dedication of our entire Lotus Family.

Yesterday, we organized our worldwide Lotus Bakeries Well-being day!     Each of our locations organized unique activities focused around the central theme of mental well-being. From breathing or mindfulness workshops, inspirational key notes, healthy lunches to outdoor activities, all our teams engaged in activities tailored to their needs. Let's continue to prioritize our well-being, today and every day! #LotusBakeries #WellbeingDay #LifeatLotusBakeries

An honor to host South Africa’s President Ramaphosa at our Wolseley production site in South Africa, today! We're proud to showcase our commitment to expanding production capacity, maintaining the highest product quality, and actively fostering local job creation. Thank you for recognising our dedication! Find our more in our press release 👉 https://lnkd.in/dyMVbnUS

Feeling proud!🌍In 2023, Lotus Bakeries has taken significant strategic steps towards sustainability, building on our Care for Today, Respect for Tomorrow programme. We’ve sharpened our governance structures by implementing a new ESG Governance Structure and we’ve performed a Double Materiality Assessment. Plus, we’re gearing up for CSRD & ESRS compliant reporting! But that’s not all – we’ve made clear commitments to environmental initiatives, including setting science-based reduction targets through SBTi and calculating our baseline CO2e emissions for 2023. Curious to know more about our sustainability journey? Check out our ESG-Compilation for all the details: 👉 https://lnkd.in/ex9_BWPQ