A high-tech and automation plant of 40 thousand square meters covered, one of the largest in Europe for this sector, for an investment of 100 million Euros. This is what is behind the ribbon cutting that, over the weekend, took place in the new plant of Pizzoli, in San Pietro in Casale (Bologna). With the new factory, the Italian brand of frozen potatoes is preparing to triple production volumes but also, perhaps above all, to carve out a leading role in Europe close to major world players such as the Dutch giants Aviko and Farm Frites International, the Belgian Agristo, the American holding company Lamb Weston and the candese Mccain.

With 23% of the market in value, the group is the first producer of frozen potatoes in Italy and one of the first to become known to the general public under the Patasnella brand. "But -says Nicola Pizzoli, third generation at the head of the company founded in Budrio (BO) in 1926- we are still small compared to our competitors, all multinationals in North Europe or North America, and we have a small share of exports, around 2%. With this investment we aim to bring foreign sales to 15% in three years, developing throughout the Mediterranean basin and even overseas, and pulling together with us the entire Italian potato industry".

"The principles of sustainability are an integral part of the company’s strategy -stresses the company’s offices' statement. In line with its industrial vocation, the company continuously invests in agricultural expansion plans promoting the cultivation of potatoes in all Italian regions and strongly maintaining its roots in the community in which it historically operates. The production center of San Pietro in Casale". And so here is that the project related to the new production and logistics hub fits, as the note explains, "in the sustainable perspective of reducing land consumption".

The project starts in 2016 from an industrial conversion of the site of the Ex Sfir Sugar Factory in San Pietro in Casale, an area of 350,000 square meters: the work of demolition and recovery of the site was impressive. "In the 2017 -the note continues- the first phase of the consisting plan in the logistic platform to elevated automation is started. The construction of the production plant began in 2021 and was completed at the beginning of 2023 with an investment of over 70 million Euro made thanks to the contribution of a Development Contract signed with the ministry of Enterprises and made in Italy and to a funding line of Intesa Sanpaolo for EUR 45 million from the ceiling dedicated to the transition to the circular economy. On July 15, the plant was officially started".

The one inaugurated in San Pietro in Casale is the third industrial site of the company after those of Budrio and Baricella (BO): two specialized plants, respectively, in frozen and fresh potatoes. This production plant, equipped with the most advanced technologies, under the scheme, the company’s production capacity for frozen potatoes will triple and in the long term it will allow the volumes of raw material delivered by farms to the Pizzoli group to reach 350,000 tonnes of potatoes per year. In the coming years, the plant will also host the packaging of fresh potatoes, with a remarkable development both in quantity and quality.

The investment has already created 60 new jobs in San Pietro in Casale, bringing the workforce to 308. "In the coming years -Pizzoli continues-, we will also welcome the packaging of fresh potatoes that today is concentrated in Baricella, with a remarkable development both in terms of quality and quantity".

"This year we are preparing to cross the milestone of 200 million Euro in revenue after the +25% achieved in 2023 with 159 million revenues -underlines the ad-. We are optimistic, the demand for frozen potatoes is sustained both in retail, which absorbs about 65% of our volumes, both in the home. At full capacity we will come to absorb 350 thousand tons of raw material from farms and our goal is to bring to at least 80% the share of Italian potatoes. Today we source from 12 regions and estimate that annual potato production will increase by 15%".