Graveson facility in Provence area will include avocado storage, ripening rooms and packing capacity
Westfalia Fruit’s French operation has announced the construction of a new facility in the country, which is scheduled to become operational this month.
The state-of-the-art facility, located in Graveson in the Provence area of the South of France, will include avocado storage, ripening rooms and packing areas to support the company’s pan-European operations.
“The Graveson site is a significant addition to our existing European operations and will work closely with our existing site in Paris and across Europe to ensure we continue to deliver consistent high-quality avocados to new and existing customers”, said Paulina Criticos, Westfalia Fruit’s chief executive for EMEA.
“The benefit of building a new site is that we can ensure it is fit for the future, incorporating cutting edge technology and building materials including thermal insulation, motion detectors in common areas and renewable energy,” she explained.
According to the company, the production facility has been designed with the highest level of environmental and food safety requirements in mind.
Westfalia’s ripening intellectual property has been applied in the ripening rooms that have been designed with the latest technology, allowing the group to ripen avocados and other exotic fruits to customer specifications.
The packhouse will double the production ability of Westfalia’s French operations and enable the group to serve a wider geographical customer base, while also enabling Westfalia to further increase its market share in Europe.
The official opening of the site will be held this month and will mark the 12th facility Westfalia operates across Europe and the UK.
