Bakels partners Appollo Holdings

Shirajiv Sirimane

With permanent peace and boom from tourism, sales have increased and Sri Lanka is a very important market for Bakels bakery products said Sales and Business Development Manager, Peter Merkx.

Speaking at a conference in Colombo he said that they have also appointed Appollo Holdings Pvt limited to market their products and they their sales has increased by almost double in Sri Lanka.

Peter Merkx present at the launch of the products to a well attended gathering of esteemed hoteliers, confectioners, bakers and the press stated that Bakels prides itself for innovation and new product development as an important part of their business and therefore Bakels continue to invest in R&D, the bread improver 'Quantum Universal," is a good example where Bakels claim clean label (100% natural) which will be appreciated by the health conscious consumer.

Peter Merkx further stated the he is delighted to partner Appollo Holdings as their distributor in Sri Lanka and expects to launch many more of their products to a growing consumer market in Sri Lanka. He further stated that he would be conducting training programs and workshops throughout the country as well. He was accompanied by Alfredo Saniago and carried out training workshops in Colombo, Kandy, Gampaha and Wattala last month and is planning another workshop within the next few months.

The company has been in Sri Lanka for 10 years also hoped to introduce new products. "With global recession in Europe Asia has always helped us to maintain growth," he said.

Incorporated in 1904 with a history of over 100 years, Bakels a Swiss based company with its origins in the Netherlands is one of the leading bakery ingredient suppliers with over 40 Companies and 18 manufacturing plants spread worldwide. The Bakels range is distributed to over 120 countries at present. Currently the Bakels range supports over 2000 item.

Bakels companies develop, manufacture, distribute and technically support bakery ingredients for every market and product sector craft, industrial, and supermarket bread, pastry, cake and confectionary on all five continents.

Anton Paul the Managing Director of Appollo Holdings stated that they had identified Bakels as a product of highest quality and that they are dedicating an experienced team to market and distributes the range to hotels, confectioners, bakeries and cake and pastry makers across the island.

"We would be launching cake and bread emulsifiers, bread softeners, emulsified fat, cake mixes, donut mixes initially and many other products," he further stated.

Appollo Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, a rapidly growing Group of companies has investments in FMCG, travel and leisure and the latest venture being into property development as well.