Type Private Subsidiaries SIALSA Headquarters Las Palmas, Spain | Number of employees 1,400 Website www.gkm.com Founded 1999 | |
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Industry Ice cream, Frozen desserts, Dairy products Products Kalise, Menorquina, Sandra Profiles | ||
Grupo Kalise Menorquina SA (abbreviated to GKM) is a Spanish ice cream company, who produce ice cream and dessert products. Its headquarters are on Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Grupo Kalise Menorquina was created in 1999 when Interglas and Menorquina SL merged to form one company. GKM currently employs 1,400 employees. GKM is currently Spain's third largest producer of ice cream.
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History
Menorquina was founded by Fernando Pons Sintes in 1940, on the island of Menorca. US multinational company Beatrice Foods bought a 95% stake of the company in 1965. At this time, Menorquina was marketing its brand under the name 'La Menorquina'. Beatrice Foods also bought a stake in Modernas Aplicaciones de la Refrigeracion Industrial, SA, under the trade name Marisa. This meant that Menorquina had access to the two of Modernas Aplicaciones de la Refrigeracion Industrial, SA factories in Barcelona and Mallorca, and began to sell its products in Mallorca.
Menorquina marketed three brands in Mallorca, these were La Menorquina, Matisa and Calatayud. In 1983, Modernas Aplicaciones de la Refrigeracion Industrial, SA merged with Menorquina, leaving the Barcelona, Menorca and Mallorca factories to Menorquina.
In 1987, Menorquina had merged with Ice Cream giant, Interglass SA, who owned the Kalise brand. Later on 1999, Beatrice Foods had left the company. In the same year, the Interglass brand had fully merged with Menorquina, resulting in the Kalise Menorquina Group. In 2005, Grupo Kalise Menorquina acquired 95% of SIALSA, which produced and sold yogurt-brand Sandra locally.
Business dimensions
GKM is currently Spain's first largest producer of Ice Cream, with a market share of 75%. There are over 90 distributors throughout Portugal and Spain and over 25 regional offices. The company also sells bulk pack, and produces own-label supermarket products. In 2005, the group had a workforce of around 1,400 employees.