About Poppies Bakeries
We have deepened and broadened our baking expertise and our range through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions to become the Poppies Bakeries group we are today.
Sweet bakery is in our
DNA since 1976
Sweet bakery products
Our extensive product portfolio ensures that we can meet a wide array of customer needs.
A reliable partner
Poppies Bakeries is a partner that customers all over the world can rely on.
Operational efficiency
We aim to maximise cost-efficiency and value for our customers.
The story about
Frans & Luc
While many Belgian entrepreneurs started chasing their dreams working out of a garage, our story began in an artisan bakery. In 1976 economics graduate Frans Castelein and his brother-in-law, master baker Luc Popelier, started baking traditional Flemish pastries and biscuits, which they sold to market vendors, small shops and other businesses in the local community. In nurturing that direct connection with their customers, they learned what people liked, what people loved and which products sold best.
Little by little, we grew into a reliable partner for customers worldwide – by gaining an understanding of the principles of artisan baking and finding ways to upscale them, sourcing the right ingredients, developing recipes to build flavours and closely monitoring the quality.
The start of it all
Our initial products are coconut cookies and ambient cream puffs.
Frozen cream puffs
We open our first large-scale production site for frozen cream puffs in Zonnebeke (Belgium).
Frozen mini eclairs and Comines site
We start production of frozen mini eclairs in Zonnebeke and we open a new production site in Comines (Belgium). We also launch production of our famous Popiroll cookie.
Oatmeal cookie
We launch oatmeal cookie production in Ekeby (Sweden).
Macarons at d'Haubry
We launch production of macarons at Poppies Bakeries d’Haubry.
Acquisition of Van Diermen
Van Diermen joins the group, producing cream puffs and mini eclairs under its new name Poppies Bakeries Bunschoten.
New corporate brand
In 2022 we adopted a new corporate brand that better represents who we are and what we do: an international group that manufactures bakery products for all over the world.
An international company with customers around the globe
We currently have 13 bakeries and more than 1,300 employees across Europe and the USA. We have 8 sales divisions worldwide: 7 in Europe (Belgium, Germany, Sweden, France, The Netherlands, Spain and the UK), one in the USA. Our products are sold in more than 64 countries.
Our production sites
Learn more about our 13 production sites across the world by clicking the relevant location on the map.
Keeping the scale to make the difference
We work tirelessly to optimise operational excellence at our bakeries by investing in new technologies and state-of-the-art machinery. We never stop improving and refining to achieve optimal cost-efficiency and maximum value for our customers.
Assuring the top quality of our products
All our sweet bakery products come with that iconic taste Poppies Bakeries is renowned for. Our recipe for success is a strong focus on quality and food safety, based on our commitment to select the very best sustainable ingredients without compromising on taste.
