Surgital, 2025 is already “on the balance sheet”

The growth trend of Surgital Spa, the Italian company and world leader in the production and freezing of fresh pasta, ready meals, and nugget sauces, continues. As the year-end approaches, the board, chaired by the Bacchini family, reviews and analyzes the provisional budget, outlining the 2025 project.

Partial research from IIAS (Italian Frozen Food Institute), pending the usual spring report, confirms significant growth in the consumption of frozen foods, both domestically and out of home—a fact also observed at Surgital’s headquarters in Lavezzola, where sales in the out-of-home channel again account for about 70% of revenue this year.

“This year has been very particular – highlights Massimiliano Bacchini, board member and Commercial Director of Surgital. As the calendar year closes, we see strong consolidation in our presence in our main reference markets, primarily foodservice, although seasonal trends have been different compared to other years. We are closely monitoring this fluctuating demand in the Ho.Re.Ca. channel, as opposed to the industrial, GDO, and door-to-door channels, where we maintain the same consumption and sales curve, with values aligned with the last two years. Despite these fluctuations, we can say that we are currently seeing a volume increase of about 5% (foodservice). Even though the usual peak in out-of-home sales in June and August did not occur, we saw an excellent recovery in September and October. Particularly in the world of ready meals, both single and multi-portion from our Fiordiprimi line, we recorded good sales data in 2024, +15% compared to 2023″.

Regarding the 2025-2027 three-year industrial plan, Surgital has recently worked on its revision, which will be approved by the end of December and will redefine the parameters for the next two years. It is a re-edition in light of new investments concerning the factory component—especially automation processes in some production lines, moving toward 4.0 and 5.0 standards. This operation will particularly affect departments where manual labor is still used, such as packaging.

“We have made this choice to elevate the quality of work- continues Bacchini. In the development plan we have already approved, we foresee a significant investment in people’s well-being; in addition to reallocating part of the staff that will no longer be used in the new automated departments, a hiring plan for 45 people is underway, focusing solely on the production areas of the plant in 2025. This choice to automate some departments is part of our sustainability development project; improving the quality of work for staff is, in fact, one of Surgital’s central growth points, on par with industrial growth”.

Sustainability is indeed a fundamental pillar of the Group. In structural terms, 2024 has seen significant developments: the addition of a new engine for the trigeneration plant, with a power of 4.6 MW/hour, as well as the installation of a new photovoltaic system within the company perimeter with a production capacity of 2.4 MW/hour. This consists of 4,600 new high-efficiency bifacial panels, integrating the existing system with an additional 1,000 KW/hour. This progress will allow the regulation and optimization of electricity, steam, and hot water consumption based on company needs, thereby reducing environmental impact.

2025 thus begins with all the “energy” needed to face an increasingly dynamic market, not without its challenges. The company also continues to monitor the global geopolitical situation, particularly in countries where Surgital is strongly present, such as the USA, where the government change concerns many Italian food companies due to well-known import tariff issues.

“The USA is a very important market for us; we generate an average turnover of 20 million euros annually. However, with cautious optimism, we do not foresee the protectionist policy of the new president affecting a category like ours, which does not compete with any American lobby—unlike the dairy sector, for example– concludes Bacchini. A group like ours has a great responsibility towards our community and the approximately 500 people working with us. Looking ahead through prudent strategies has always been our way of growing, never taking a wait-and-see approach. For this reason, we look at 2025 with a concrete vision, seeing growth opportunities; we will implement a new project that will allow us to explore and enter a new product category, with high service content, where we believe there is still great development potential both for the Italian market and abroad. It is still under development, but I can say that it will be a new line intended for foodservice, with excellent potential also for the gastronomy and GDO channels”.