La Lorraine strengthens its footprint in Türkiye
La Lorraine strengthens its footprint in Türkiye
La Lorraine Türkiye is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a new investment in a next-generation artisan bread production line, further strengthening its presence in the country as it continues its strong growth journey.
Headquartered in Belgium, La Lorraine Bakery Group operates in the flour milling and bakery sectors and reaches consumers in more than 40 countries with high-quality bakery products. The group is celebrating its 10th year in Türkiye, marking a new milestone in its expansion.
With the new artisan bread line commissioned at its Manisa facility, the company is upgrading its production capabilities to a higher level while also marking an important turning point in its steady regional growth journey. This strategic move further strengthens La Lorraine Türkiye’s innovative approach in bakery products and stands out as a key milestone in advancing its regional position.
Over €100 million invested in Türkiye in 10 years
La Lorraine Türkiye began its local bakery operations in 2016 with a fully automated bread line established in Manisa. Over the past decade, the company has significantly expanded its production capacity through investments in artisan bread, viennoiserie, and savoury bakery products (börek).
Today, the facility operates five production lines and is positioned as a strategic manufacturing hub for Türkiye and the Middle East.
With more than 20 regional sales offices across Türkiye, La Lorraine Türkiye employs around 750 people through its distributor network. Over the past 10 years, the company has invested more than €100 million in the country, with the Manisa plant playing a central role in its growth strategy.
Together with its distributors and retail partners, La Lorraine Türkiye develops the bake-off segment in Türkiye, offering consumers fresher and tastier bakery products. This approach has delivered strong and sustainable annual revenue growth over the past decade, contributing to a doubling of sales in the last five years. With the newly created capacity and a strong commercial strategy, La Lorraine Türkiye aims to double its sales again over the next five years.
Group CEO Guido Vanherpe stated:
“For 10 years, we have combined craftsmanship and innovation at La Lorraine Bakery Group, and through our pioneering role in bake-off technology, we continue to shape the way consumers experience bakery products worldwide. As we celebrate 10 years of production in Türkiye, we are very proud of the successful role this market has played in our growth outside Europe since 2016. Türkiye’s dynamic market, strong bread culture, and the potential offered by bake-off innovation made it a very logical growth step, and this decision has delivered tangible results over the past 10 years. Türkiye, and subsequently the Middle East, has become a key gateway in our eastward expansion strategy. In addition, La Lorraine Türkiye’s future growth potential plays a central strategic role in achieving our 2030 objectives. As a family-owned company, we highly value the entrepreneurship, passion, energy, and resilience of our Turkish team, and we are committed to continuing to write the future of baking together.”
One of the pioneers of bake-off technology
Founded in 1939 in Belgium by Gerard Vanherpe as a flour mill, La Lorraine Bakery Group entered the bakery sector in the 1970s and continued to grow in fresh bakery products. In the 1980s, it became one of the pioneers of the revolutionary “bake-off” technology.
Today, the company operates across four main areas: frozen bakery products, fresh bakery products, store concepts, and flour production. It offers a wide range of products including bread, pastries, sweet snacks, viennoiserie, and savoury items.
The bake-off technology is based on stopping the production process by freezing products just before final baking or after partial baking. This allows final baking to be completed at the point of sale, ensuring freshly baked products at any time of the day while offering consumers more variety and choice. It also improves inventory efficiency and helps reduce food waste.
La Lorraine Türkiye is among the first bakery companies in Türkiye to produce frozen bakery products and is leading the transformation of the bakery market in both retail and foodservice channels.
Türkiye as a strategic gateway in the “Go East” strategy
Today, La Lorraine Bakery Group operates 18 production sites in 10 countries and employs more than 5,700 people, offering over 1,500 fresh and frozen product references.
In 2025, the company achieved €1.57 billion in revenue, with 54% generated in Western Europe and 46% from the rest of the world. Türkiye, the group’s first bakery investment outside Europe, is a key gateway market in its eastward expansion strategy.
Neslihan Nigiz Ulak stated:
“With the new artisan bread line in Manisa, we are increasing our capacity to offer more artisanal, high-quality, and innovative products aligned with local consumer expectations. This milestone reflects our customers’ trust and the strong collaboration with our business partners and distributors, with whom we write the La Lorraine Türkiye story every day. Beyond being a factory, this site represents our respect for the cultural meaning of bread in this land. In Anatolia, bread is treated with deep respect—if it falls, it is picked up, kissed, and placed on the forehead; it is never stepped on or wasted. In a study conducted with Marketing Türkiye and Aksoy Research, 84.3% of respondents described bread as “sacred.” Bread stands for blessing, abundance, and indispensability. For us, this is more than a statistic—it is a responsibility. Because here, we are not only producing; we are engaging with a cultural value.”
She added that the company aims to sustain its strong growth momentum, reinforce its sustainable product leadership, and double sales by 2030, while continuing to bring innovative, high-quality, freshly baked products to Turkish consumers.
2030 vision: strengthening leadership and doubling sales
With the new artisan bread production line in Manisa, La Lorraine Türkiye is increasing its production capacity while expanding its portfolio toward more artisanal, distinctive, high-quality, and innovative bakery products.
La Lorraine Bakery Group continues to strengthen Türkiye’s position in its strategic growth plans. Key drivers behind this investment include Türkiye’s dynamic market structure, its status as one of the highest per capita bread-consuming countries in the world, and the strong growth potential of the bake-off technology in bakery markets.
The retail and foodservice channels also offer significant opportunities for development and innovation, making Türkiye a highly strategic market for the future.
The company aims to sustain its strong growth momentum in line with its sustainable product leadership strategy, double its sales by 2030, and continue delivering innovative, high-quality, freshly baked products to thousands of Turkish consumers every day.
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Source : Capital, May 13, 2026. Article translated by Advantis Conseils Turquie.
