IN Brief:
- Roncadin plans more than €80m of investment across Italy and the United States, targeting €500m annual revenue within three years.
- The Meduno development is designed to raise annual pizza capacity from 120m to 160m units in two stages.
- New production at Meduno and Chicago is scheduled to come online during 2027, with further capacity available in 2028.
Roncadin is investing more than €80 million in its Italian and American manufacturing operations as the frozen pizza producer responds to higher demand from international retail customers. Around €50 million is allocated to its Meduno factory in north-eastern Italy, while a further €22 million supports a second production line at its Chicago facility. The three-year programme also includes development of smaller savoury bakery products at other Italian sites.
The largest project is at Meduno, where the company produces frozen own-label pizzas for major food retailers. A new production line occupying approximately 4,500 sq m of space connected to the existing plant is due to be completed before the end of 2026. Production is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2027, with the line reaching its planned operating capacity in April. The installation is intended to raise the site’s annual production capacity from about 120 million to 140 million pizzas.
A further line is planned for the early months of 2028. Together, the two additions would bring Meduno’s capacity to approximately 160 million pizzas annually, equivalent to a one-third increase over the existing 120 million baseline. These are planned capacity figures, rather than volumes already produced. Roncadin estimates that the expansion could create approximately 200 jobs once the facilities are fully operational, while parallel investment in storage is intended to support higher throughput.
Demand from European retail customers has grown while Meduno’s installed production lines have approached full utilisation, according to Roncadin. The company supplies frozen own-label products, which can involve different pack specifications, product variants and delivery schedules across customers. A higher rated line capacity provides additional manufacturing time, but completed pizzas still need to be held, picked and dispatched through the supporting cold storage operation. Roncadin is therefore expanding storage infrastructure alongside the new production lines, although it has not quantified the added storage capacity.
Roncadin opened its Chicago factory in late 2024 and is now allocating €22 million to a second line integrated into the existing operation. The new installation is targeted for commissioning by September 2027 and is expected to be fully available during 2028, when the site is projected to have annual capacity for 50 million pizzas. The United States currently represents around 30% of group turnover. The additional line is intended to support growing demand in that market without requiring the construction of a separate US factory.
Alongside the two large frozen pizza operations, RoncaLab is expanding smaller savoury bakery formats in Italy. Its Sommacampagna site, near Verona, is developing frozen topped pinsa, while approximately €5 million is being invested at Caorle, where the group acquired a former pizza-base factory in 2026. A line has already been installed there for mini pizzas measuring seven to twelve centimetres, and the planned retail and foodservice range also includes dough balls and other snack products. These are separate product developments from the planned high-volume additions at Meduno.
Caorle’s installed mini pizza line provides a separate production route from the high-volume frozen own-label operation at Meduno. Further planned dough-ball and snack formats may require different portions, forming equipment and pack configurations, but the group has not specified their eventual output. RoncaLab’s developments therefore sit alongside the large pizza investments rather than being counted within Meduno’s announced annual pizza capacity. The additional sites broaden the group’s product range while the main factories concentrate on higher-volume frozen pizza supply.
At Meduno, installed photovoltaic capacity now exceeds 7 MWp following a further installation completed during 2026. Roncadin reports that on-site generation covers more than 30% of the existing factory’s electricity requirements and that the balance is purchased from certified renewable sources. The share covered by on-site solar will depend on future electricity consumption as production equipment is added. The published figures establish the present supply arrangement but do not quantify the electrical load of either proposed new line.
The company forecasts consolidated revenue of approximately €300 million for 2026, with more than 85% generated outside Italy. The UK is estimated to account for around 22% of group turnover, giving British retailers a substantial role in the market served by the European production expansion. Roncadin’s €500 million annual revenue goal for the next three years remains dependent on commissioning, customer orders and demand across its markets.
Former Freiberger executive Thomas Schulz joined as senior commercial adviser on 1 October to support international sales and the group’s growth programme. The commercial appointment accompanies a staged industrial investment rather than an immediate increase in available output. The proposed workforce increase at Meduno is tied to the plant’s eventual full operation, while the new storage provision and line commissioning will determine how much additional production can be dispatched. Customer orders following those milestones will determine whether the programme supports the company’s stated revenue ambitions.
