With an investment plan worth more than €20 million, sauce producer Colona is gearing up for its next phase of growth in Waremme. The family-owned company aims to increase its operational capacity by 20% over the next three years and use this as a springboard for further international expansion. A great example of how investment, innovation and production in Belgium can go hand in hand.
Colona already has an impressive growth track record. Over the past ten years, the company has grown by 150%. When a new generation of shareholders took over at the beginning of 2023, the first priority was to stabilise and consolidate the business. Now, the focus has shifted back to further growth.
Growth starts with the ability to invest
Colona’s story is a tangible example of what sustainable value creation is all about: a Belgian family-owned company investing locally in production, efficiency and innovation to remain competitive while continuing to grow internationally.
Companies that want to produce more sustainably and strengthen their position tomorrow need to be able to invest today. In machinery and technology, but also in research, people and new ideas. Over the next three years, Colona will invest more than €20 million in its operations in Waremme:
- Nearly €9 million will go towards more efficient production, including new production lines and machinery.
- More than €7 million will be invested in a new 1,800 m² centre bringing together research and development, maintenance, quality and an extensive laboratory under one roof.
Together, these investments are expected to increase operational capacity by 20% over the next three years.
A new Synergy Centre
The new centre is designed to be much more than just a new building. By physically bringing research and development, quality, maintenance and laboratory activities closer together, Colona wants to accelerate testing, improvement and scaling. As CFO and shareholder Hervé Warnant puts it: “This centre should become the driving force behind innovation at Colona.”
There is plenty happening on the production floor as well. Colona recently commissioned its fourteenth production line, with a capacity of 10,000 tubes per hour. And it does not stop there: new industrial projects are already in the pipeline.
“This centre should become the driving force behind innovation at Colona.”
Hervé Warnant, CFO and shareholder
From Waremme to the world
Products rolling off the production lines in Waremme already find their way to forty countries. And Colona intends to expand that international footprint even further.
Taiwan and Japan are being added as new markets, while the company continues to grow in countries including Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain. Not with traditional ketchup or mayonnaise, but with sauces that help Colona stand out internationally: samouraï, andalouse, algérienne and other specialities.
The ambition is clear: by 2033, Colona aims to double its turnover.