Production plants

HETÉNYEGYHÁZA

Production started at Hetényegyháza in 1965, with Red Gold (Piros Arany), which has been one of our hallmark brands ever since, followed by Goulash paste and Erős Pista later on. To date, these products have been made of fresh Hungarian paprika. We process a wide range of raw materials ranging from hot and sweet paprika and pritamine paprika to garlic, onion and horse-radish in the Hetényegyháza plant. Finished products carry the Univer Magyar Ízek (Univer Hungarian Flavours) brand which has a market share of over 80%.

The site is located on an approx. 3,500 m2 area and produces roughly 10,000 tonnes of products a year. Raw vegetables and semi-finished products are stored in containers until they are processed into finished products and packed. We are supplied with seasonal raw vegetables, and process garlic in June, onions in August and paprika from August till October.

Hetényegyháza plant was totally rebuilt in 2023 with a 22,2 million EUR investment. State-of-the-art technology and machinery were installed during the rebuilding process which nearly doubled the plant’s capacity.

KECSKEMÉTI SITE I. (Mindszenti road)

In 1975, our company became the first to market ready-to-use mayonnaise in Hungary. A new food industry plant started operations on Mindszenti Road in Kecskemét by the end of the seventies. Thanks to the new halls and production lines handed over in 2009, this site today meets the most significant challenges of the 21st century. This is the production hall where Univer’s branded products such as mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and salad dressings as well as sauces for McDonald’s food chain are produced.

The major aim of the technological development was to broaden the range of preservative-free Univer products and to install machines and automatic systems to replace processes which had mostly required manual labour up until then. This has given us an opportunity to increase processing capacities and boost production efficiency. Today, technological processes are all automatic. Process-related data are logged and production reports are made to verify processes are compliant. A third mixing line was installed in the framework of an investment to help the site with the production of as many as 80 varieties of pastes. This allows us to produce nearly 200 tonnes of pastes a day. The CIP (clean in place) system for the cleaning and disinfection of machinery is also automatically operated.

The state-of-the-art bottling and packaging line is another major element of the technological development. The new production line is capable of filling anything up to 200,000 bottles a day. We have also purchased a high-capacity bucket filling machine to meet the increasing demands of the food service sector: this allows us to fill 10,000 buckets a day.
Through the investment space available for storage purposes has more than doubled. The overhead storage facility is supplied by 2 special high-reach fork truck controlled by an induction wire recessed into the floor. Increasing production capacity requires much more raw material. We had cutting-edge 32 m3 silos installed to store bulk material (sugar, mustard seed). Our mustard production capacity has been increased by 50%: our daily production capacity is 48-50 tonnes. The storage capacity for finished mustard has also been increased considerable: we now have larger and more containers (15 in total).

Plant walking tour at the Mindszenti krt site of Univer-Product Zrt. »

KECSKEMÉTI SITE II. (Szolnoki street)

The first canned food factory was built in 1929 at the site. The factory was rebuilt in 1980 and was first refurbished in 1998 followed by a complete overhaul in 2008. Univer acquired a stake in canning operation Kecskeméti Konzervgyár Zrt. in 2003. This compound now operates in the fold of Univer-Product Plc., making tomato paste, baby food and other heat treated sauces, dressings, jams and fruit juices.

There are two facilities at the site. Our 2,000 m2 baby food plant produces its products under stringent hygienic controls. All baby foods and drinks are bottled, heat-sterilised and vacuum sealed. Raw materials are either chill stored or cold stored in the plant.

The facility of the site processes aseptic vegetables and fruits in two separate rooms. One of the facilities fills tomato concentrate into jars and cans and the other one processes jams and juices.

Our facility is Hungary's largest factory in its category. Univer Product Plc. has got up-to-date producing technology. It is a new cutting-edge tomato processing system which is able to process 4,300 tons of raw tomatoes per day.

The raw material supply system of Univer was established in 1975. This system is based exclusively on hundreds of Hungarian farmers, working in the area of Kecskemét within 80 km-s. It’s quite common that these days the second and third generation of the primary producers – the sons and grandsons of the farmers of the founding age – are supplying the fine quality raw materials of the products. This is how we secure a living for hundreds of local families...

Univer tomato concentrate contains 100% fresh tomatoes from Hungarian growers.

The region has decades of tradition in open field tomato cultivation. The Univer reference farm revives this tradition by fulfilling the most recent requirements, helping the local agricultural communities permanently. Univer introduces modern methods, varieties and technologies, handing them over to local farmers, who can constantly supply high-quality raw materials to the new Univer tomato processing plant. The role of the reference farm is far beyond tomato cultivation and propagation. The reference farm provides services for the farmers and acts as a base of technical equipments as well.

Plant walking tour at the Szolnoki street site of Univer-Product Zrt. »

BAKING PLANT

From 2011, Univer-Product Plc. also took over the management of Univer Group’s bakery plant. Our goal today is to improve the bakery business line’s efficiency and increase its market share, and we have Lipóti Bakery as a strategic partner to that end.

The baking plant in Kecskemét is capable of producing nearly 400 different varieties of bakery products. Our consumers can buy our quality products from Lipóti Sarok (Lipóti Corner) available in 26 Univer Coop retail outlets and in Lipóti Mintabolt (Factory Outlet) in equivalent numbers in the region. Our consumers are able to buy bakery products fresh from the ovens installed in Lipóti Sarok (Lipóti Corner) and Lipóti Mintabolt (Factory Outlet).