St. Jansteen, 25 June 2026 – St. Paul has invested €75 million in a new state-of-the-art processed cheese production facility. The new plant has been built on the company’s existing site in St. Jansteen, the Netherlands. With an annual production capacity exceeding 100 million kilograms and the ability to process 30 tonnes of cheese per hour, it will become the largest processed cheese factory in the Benelux and one of the most innovative and sustainable facilities of its kind worldwide.
The new facility features highly automated production lines, an Innovation & R&D Centre, a new headquarters, a water treatment plant and a new steam boiler house. Dubbed the ‘Factory of the Future’ by St. Paul due to its innovative and sustainable design, the facility centrally controls the entire production process, with cheese passing through hundreds of metres of integrated processing stages before reaching the finished, packaged product.
Consistent product quality
“The entire factory has been designed around our proprietary Smart Cheese Solutions technology,” says CEO Dieter Kuijl. “It is the result of more than forty years of innovation and fifteen years of engineering expertise.
Our objective was to build a facility combining high production capacity with the lowest possible carbon footprint, maximum flexibility, a wide range of processing capabilities and exceptional operational efficiency. What truly sets this factory apart is the carefully engineered combination of technology, functionality and sustainability. Each individual ingredient is processed separately, enabling us to guarantee consistent product quality throughout the year. This allows us to remain a reliable and future-ready partner for our B2B customers across Europe.”
Maximum automation
Kuijl continues: “The increasingly tight labour market required us to rethink the way we manufacture our products. We therefore focused on achieving the highest possible level of automation, supported by AI, advanced recipe management and optimised production processes. This not only improves efficiency but also addresses key challenges within the food industry relating to labour availability and food safety.
The complete production process – from ingredient preparation and cheese processing through to internal logistics, automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and packaging – is now fully automated. This enables St. Paul to manufacture an extensive portfolio of functional cheese solutions and innovative hybrid products for the international food industry.”
Sustainability
Sustainability has been a key design principle throughout the development of the new facility. St. Paul has invested extensively in heat recovery systems across multiple stages of the production process, advanced cooling and steam technologies, water reuse within cleaning systems and comprehensive energy-saving measures. In addition, continuous efforts are made to minimise product losses and reduce packaging waste.
The new factory also significantly expands the company’s capabilities for producing vegetarian and vegan cheese solutions, enabling St. Paul to respond to the growing European demand for more sustainable, flexitarian and plant-based food products. In doing so, the company also supports regional and national climate objectives and food transition strategies.
Innovation
St. Paul’s proprietary Smart Cheese Solutions technology forms the heart of the new facility. Every raw material is treated individually to maximise its functional characteristics — including melting behaviour, stretch, flavour and texture — allowing products to be tailored precisely to the requirements of customers across foodservice, retail and industrial markets.
The new Innovation & R&D Centre, incorporating a dedicated Knowledge Centre and Cheese Academy, provides a collaborative environment where tailor-made solutions can be developed, tested and evaluated together with customers.
“In our Knowledge Centre and Cheese Academy, technology specialists, R&D teams and customers work literally side by side,” says Kuijl. “We are not only developing new cheese solutions but also building knowledge and long-term partnerships. In that sense, the new factory will act as a catalyst for innovation across the European food industry.”
Project timeline
Installation of the production equipment has now been completed, with the final commissioning and testing programme currently underway. The factory will become operational in August, followed by a phased increase in production capacity during the fourth quarter of 2026.
The remaining elements of the development, including the new corporate headquarters, are scheduled for completion by mid-2027. A formal opening ceremony will then be held to celebrate the completion of St. Paul’s Factory of the Future.
Regional impact
With its new headquarters, enhanced employee facilities and a dedicated visitor experience corridor for guided tours, St. Paul further strengthens its position as a leading employer and knowledge partner within the province of Zeeland. The investment creates additional opportunities for highly skilled employment in engineering, research & development, quality assurance and logistics, while contributing to the continued development of a strong and sustainable food innovation cluster in the region.
About St. Paul
For more than 40 years, St. Paul has specialised in developing and manufacturing functional cheese solutions for the professional food market. The family-owned company has grown into one of Europe’s leading innovators in the food industry, supplying tailor-made solutions — ranging from cheese sauces to bake-stable cheese applications for snacks and ready meals — to customers in the foodservice, retail and industrial sectors.
St. Paul is recognised as one of Europe’s leading specialists in functional cheese solutions. Together with Koninklijke ERU, the company forms the St. Paul Group, where craftsmanship, quality and innovation go hand in hand.
For more information, visit www.st-paul.com.