| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food and Beverage |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Athens, Greece |
| Area served | Europe, Central and North America |
| Key people | Dimitrios Daskalopoulos, Spyridon Theodoropoulos, Justin Jenk, Andreas Savvas Koudellou |
| Employees | 13,000 |
| Website | http://www.vivartia.com/ |
Vivartia is a food production conglomerate brand in Greece. It is the 35th largest European company. Vivartia was formed by the merger of Delta Holding S.A. and Mechelany International S.A. This merger was the result of a process led by Justin Jenk, the then CEO of Delta Holding, Spyridon Theodoropoulos, majority shareholder of Chipita and Dimitrios Daskalopoulos, majority shareholder of Delta. The merged entity was the largest food group in Greece[1] [1]. The merger was the culmination of a highly successful turnaround and improvement strategy put in place by Jenk in 2003. The major shareholder of Vivartia was the Daskalopoulos family until a 76.89% share was sold to the Marfin Investment Group.
Today, Vivartia has 27 facilities, 13,500 employees, a commercial presence in 30 states and an estimated turnover of 1.3 billion euros for 2006.
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Vivartia is the result of the merger of Delta Holding S.A., which included Delta Dairy Products, Goody's, Flocafé and Mechelany foods as well as a dozen other major Greek food and beverages related corporations of the nutritions field, with the snack and bakery business lines of Chipita. The merger was voted "Deal of the Year 2006". After the merger was complete, the company changed its name to Vivartia S. A.
It now consist of various divisions aimed at different aspects of the field. These are:
In December 2007 Vivartia was found guilty of colluding with other milk producers (Nestlé, Fage, Mevgal and Olympos) to fix milk prices in Greece to the disadvantage of the consumer.[2] A contested decision as milk prices are regulated by the European Union (and Greek authorities) as well as the unlawful actions of certain Greek civil servants.
In the Balkans, Vivartia is active in Serbia and Bulgaria and is interested in tapping the rising consumer demand elsewhere in the region and in Russia.
Outside of Europe Vivartia is also active in Egypt and Mexico.
In 2007, Vivartia plans to expand into organic farming in Romania and into fast-food chain franchising in Serbia.
In 2008, Vivartia bought US biscuit and snack-producer Nonni’s for $320 million as part of its expansion plans, along with its brands Nonni's and New York Style and Old London.[3] The acquisition also ensured an entry of Vivartia's 7 Days croissant products to the US market, to be followed by other products at a later stage.[4] In that same year, Vivartia also announced plans to open a new plant in Yadkinville to compliment its 6 existing US plants.[5][6] As of March 2010, Vivartia now produces and sells 7-Days Croissants in the United States.[7]