Fonterra is also adding another shift to its Individually Quick-Frozen Mozzarella line, which will boost the co-op’s capacity by 6000 metric tonnes.
This development was exciting for those partial to a slice of pizza, Ryan said.
“For context, that’s enough cheese for more than 40 million pizzas a year.”
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Cheese is a key category in Fonterra’s Foodservice channel, and the upgrades allow the co-op to allocate more milk to this growing part of the business.
Restaurants around the world will also benefit, with cheese from Eltham exported to over 50 countries.
“The majority of this cheese goes into our Global Quick-service restaurant customers like McDonald’s, Domino’s and Pizza Hut,’ Ryan explained.
She said customers expected demand for their food to increase, driven by population growth, urbanisation, and rising demand for convenient meals, especially among young consumers in the Asia-Pacific region.
“And as our customers continue to expand stores and grow, then their demand for our cheese will continue to grow as well.”
Foodservice is a high-value channel for Fonterra, and it continues to show strong growth prospects.
For example, Quick Service Restaurants in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to grow by 7.5% year-on-year.
“That’s why we continue to invest in the channel,” Ryan said.
Last year, Fonterra announced a $150 million investment in a new cool store at its Whareroa site in Taranaki.
Ryan said this investment would support growth in the co-op’s Foodservice and Ingredients channels.
“That will really enable us to continue to increase production for these high-value products.
“So we can meet the growing demand for our customers, and at the same time deliver further value for our farmer shareholders.”
