General Mills inaugurate major technical & quality centre in Shanghai

General Mills has inaugurated the company’s first innovation, technology and quality centre in China, signalling a commitment to drive greater innovation and investment in one of the company’s largest growth markets.

The US$15-million facility, spanning 75,000sqf, is the first major technical centre outside of the General Mills worldwide headquarters in Minneapolis, USA. The company said the state-of-the-art complex in Shanghai will focus on developing high-quality products for Chinese consumers including snacks, convenient meals, yogurt and super premium ice cream. It will house centres for product research and development, food safety, food nutrition research, and food sensory evaluation.

“Our new technical centre in Shanghai provides General Mills a tremendous opportunity to accelerate innovation in the Greater China region and better support this rapidly expanding business,” said Ken Powell, chairman and CEO. “By bringing our world-class capabilities to the region, we will increase our agility to act on emerging consumer trends, enable bigger and better innovation pipelines, and establish a food safety centre of excellence for our business.”

General Mills also operates technical centres in Minneapolis, France, India and Brazil. In addition, the company’s Cereal Partners Worldwide joint venture with Nestlé has a research centre in Switzerland.

“Our continued success in China will require consistently meeting the needs and demands of our consumers,” said Gary Chu, executive vice president and president of General Mills China. “Over the last two decades, we have built a growing portfolio of brands and products that Chinese consumers have come to love and trust. With the tremendous economic growth in China, establishing greater technical capabilities in this market is critical for our continued success.”

Today, China is one of the company’s largest growth markets with brands such as Wanchai Ferry dim sum, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, Bugles and Trix snacks. Constant-current net sales for China have grown at a 15% compound rate over the past four years, reaching over US$700 million dollars in 2014.

General Mills expects double-digit net sales growth from Greater China this fiscal year. Most recently, the company announced that it will expand its geographic presence for Haagen-Dazs, adding 80 new shops and entering 16 new cities in China.

The company also is preparing to enter the US$8 billion yogurt category and has begun construction on a new manufacturing facility in the region.

One-third of General Mills sales are now outside the US. As a result of recent acquisitions, including Yoplait and Yoki, more than US$6 billion including the company’s proportionate share of joint ventures are now outside the U.S. in fast-growing categories: ready-to-eat cereal, yogurt, snacks, convenience meals, and super-premium ice cream.