The East Flemish cookie baker Lotus Bakeries will collaborate with Mondelez International, the largest cookie manufacturer in the world. Mondelez will bake Lotus caramelized biscuits in India and there will be Milka chocolate products containing Lotus caramelized biscuits. Both companies announced this on Thursday.
Lotus Bakeries is best known for its Biscoff biscuit biscuit. That is the fifth most popular cookie in the world. Mondelez will produce, market, distribute and sell that biscuit in India for Lotus, it has been agreed.
“The collaboration in India offers us the opportunity to build on their local commercial expertise, strong presence and market-specific knowledge,” said Lotus CEO Jan Boone in a press release. “We believe this is the right time to expand our distribution in this growing market.”
New products
In addition, the two companies will work together to develop new chocolate products that incorporate Lotus caramelized biscuits. This will first happen in Europe with Milka biscuits and in the UK with Cadbury, “with the possibility of global expansion”. The first such products are expected in early 2025, the press release said.
Mondelez, which also has brands such as LU, Oreo and Toblerone in its portfolio, has a turnover of approximately 36 billion dollars (more than 33 billion euros). That is more than thirty times more than Lotus Bakeries, which achieved a turnover of 1.06 billion euros in 2023. The cookie baker from Lembeke is listed on the stock exchange and is part of the Bel20, the index of star shares of the Brussels stock exchange.