The Bell Food Group strengthens its organization

At the top group level, the business divisions will be reorganized. While the Bell Switzerland division will remain unchanged, the former Bell Germany and Bell International units will be merged into a new Bell International division. The Hilcona, Eisberg and Hügli business units were already integrated into the Convenience division during the course of the year. In the Finance/Services Division, IT will be separated into a newly created central division. IT will be strengthened organizationally with its own central division in order to take account of the increasing complexity. The organizational changes will be implemented as of 01.07.2019.Within the Bell International division, the existing Bell International division will be renamed the Bell Western/Eastern Europe division and will include the units Bell France, Bell Poland and Bell Hungary. Due to its size and independent market development, Hubers/Sütag will form a separate division in future.

The management structure will also be strengthened as the organization is adjusted. The Group Executive Board consists of the heads of the divisions. The Bell Switzerland division will continue to be managed by CEO Lorenz Wyss. The current CFO Marco Tschanz will take over the management of the newly created Bell International division and the central IT department. Volker Baltes will join the Bell Food Group as Head of the Convenience division and Xavier Buro as CFO. Due to the changed Group structure, the previous members of the Group Executive Board Daniel Böhny and Christian Schröder are now division heads.

Volker Baltes (55) has many years of experience in the food industry. Through his previous activities, he has acquired extensive expertise in general management, sales and marketing. He also has in-depth knowledge of the international retail landscape. He currently works as Managing Director of Herta and Garden Gourmet in Germany. Previously, he held various positions at several international food manufacturers. Volker Baltes will take up his position at the Bell Food Group on 01.07.2019.

Xavier Buro (49) has many years of experience in finance and related service areas such as mergers & acquisitions. He is currently a member of the management board of Transgourmet Central and Eastern Europe, where he is responsible for finance. Xavier Buro will join the company on 01.05.2019 and take over the role of CFO from 01.07.2019. The current CFO Marco Tschanz will be appointed as his deputy. This will ensure continuity in the financial management of the company.

Unlocking growth potential for Frisch-Convenience in Germany

Fresh convenience is an attractive, growing market in Germany. The Bell Food Group would like to further strengthen its position in this dynamic environment. A concept is currently being developed for the German production site in Bad Wünnenberg that is geared towards the production of fresh convenience food. One component of this concept is to relocate parts of the meat convenience range currently produced to Marchtrenk (AT). A modern convenience plant is currently being built in Marchtrenk, which will be able to use the existing space reserves for the production of meat convenience products in addition to the fresh convenience products already planned. This will make the new plant even more attractive for employees and customers.
The planned expansion of the product range will enable the Bell Food Group to offer customers in Germany an attractive, contemporary range of fresh convenience products. In addition to the concept, the detailed product range and production programs are currently being developed. The Bell Food Group expects to be able to present the product ranges to customers during the first half of 2019.