ISM 2018: XOX investing and growing strongly

20 years ago, Edmund Besecke took over the XOX snack brand, now 110 years old, and revived the success it had enjoyed in previous years. The enterprise has now established itself in Germany as the No. 3 producer on the expanding snack market. The share of products sold under the XOX brand and those sold under private labels is roughly equal.

MP Besecke and his dedicated team have just recently invested some € 20 m into the construction of a new production facility featuring a 5,000 square metres production area, as well as in three new popcorn production lines. “Popcorn is our new snack praline. And I’m convinced that popcorn sales in Germany will double in the next five years”, forecasts Besecke. In addition to the two existing lines for simple popcorn and the popcorn finishing line, a second finishing facility has already been commissioned. The company owner‘s confidence behind the investments is inspired by the development of the German snack market, which has almost doubled its revenues since 2005 to just under € 3 bn. Besecke predicts that the segment will continue to increase to € 3.8 bn by 2021.

His optimism is also increased by the entry of Hershey and Campbell Soup via acquisitions in the global snack market. He comments, “The smaller manufacturers can definitely profit from the big players, because they will invest in advertising and ­further expand the market segment”. Besecke plans to double the current XOX revenues by 2021, while the company‘s internal sales planning for 2018 calls for an increase of 34%.

Stefan Hund, MD Sales and Marketing, is undaunted by this ambitious plan. He says, “We generally ­exceed our ambitious targets. As a result, the number of employees has increased since 2011 from 90 to 200”. Exports have increased strongly now to 20%, maintaining that great potential also still remains in other countries. The XOX Group will show a number of new products at the ISM, above all in the popcorn segment.