We are full manufacturers in the US now
From a small Castilian town, a Spanish food company is quietly rewriting its identity — shedding the weight of pasta and reaching across the Atlantic toward the world's largest snack economy. Cerealto, once known as Siro, has spent four years and hundreds of millions of euros transforming itself into a manufacturer of cereal bars and granola, and now stands at the threshold of a €600 million milestone. The acquisition of a Colorado factory and the construction of another signal something older than strategy: the human impulse to plant a flag somewhere new and grow.
- Cerealto closed 2025 just shy of its €600M revenue target, with 9.1% growth confirming that its pivot toward snacks and breakfast foods is gaining real momentum.
- Tariff pressures on imported goods threatened to undercut the company's US ambitions, creating urgency to manufacture on American soil rather than simply export to it.
- The sale of its pasta division to Portugal's Cerealis in early 2026 cleared the path — freeing capital and strategic focus for the high-growth categories the company is betting its future on.
- The acquisition of Colorado-based Fresca Foods gave Cerealto an immediate US manufacturing presence and €100M in annual revenue, turning a long-held ambition into operational reality.
- A new cereal bar factory being built next to Fresca Foods' existing facility is set to produce 800 million units annually by late 2026, positioning Cerealto for serious market share in a country it is only now entering at scale.
Cerealto is chasing a milestone. The Spanish food manufacturer closed 2025 with €574 million in revenue — a 9.1 percent increase — and is now within reach of the €600 million target that has come to symbolize the success of a deliberate, years-long transformation. Headquartered in the small Castilian town of Venta de Baños, the company formerly known as Siro has invested €153 million since 2022 in production capacity and efficiency, with another €75 million planned for 2026. The results are visible where it counts: cereal bars and granola are growing at double-digit rates.
To sharpen its focus, Cerealto sold its pasta division to Portugal's Cerealis in February 2026 — a clean break from a category that no longer fit the vision. The freed capital and attention are now pointed at America. Last November, the company acquired Fresca Foods, a Colorado-based cereal bar and granola manufacturer with €100 million in annual revenue. Beyond the growth, the deal solves a structural problem: by manufacturing in the US, Cerealto avoids the tariff pressures that would otherwise erode margins on imported goods. CEO Bosco Fonts called it the realization of a long-held strategic goal.
Cerealto is not pausing to let the acquisition settle. A new factory is rising next to Fresca Foods' existing facility, set to open between August and September 2026 with an annual capacity of 800 million cereal bars. Back in Spain, a new production line is being added at the Palencia plant. EBITDA reached €53 million at the end of 2025, and the company is targeting double-digit margins. Half of revenue still comes from Spain and Portugal — but the US expansion is designed to change that balance, reducing dependence on home markets and establishing Cerealto as a genuine presence in the world's largest snack economy.
Cerealto is chasing a milestone. The Spanish food manufacturer, which has spent the last four years reshaping itself around the world's appetite for snacks and breakfast foods, closed 2025 with revenue of 574 million euros—a 9.1 percent jump from the year before. The company is now within striking distance of 600 million euros, a target that feels less like a number on a spreadsheet and more like proof that a deliberate strategy is working.
The company, formerly known as Siro and still headquartered in the small Castilian town of Venta de Baños, has been methodical about this transformation. Since 2022, it has poured 153 million euros into new production capacity and efficiency improvements, with another 75 million euros earmarked for 2026. The payoff is visible in the categories that matter: cereal bars and granola products are growing at double-digit rates. Cerealto's chief executive, Bosco Fonts, describes the shift as a response to what consumers actually want to eat. The company abandoned pasta—a first-course staple that no longer fit the vision—selling that division to Portugal's Cerealis in a deal that closed in February 2026. The move freed up focus and capital for what comes next.
What comes next is America. Last November, Cerealto acquired Fresca Foods, a Colorado-based manufacturer of cereal bars and granola products that generates 100 million euros in annual revenue. The purchase was strategic in ways that go beyond simple growth. By establishing a manufacturing foothold in the United States, Cerealto can sidestep the tariff pressures that would otherwise squeeze margins on imported goods. Fonts speaks of it as a long-held ambition finally realized: "We have achieved what we wanted strategically for a long time, which is to put a foot in the US by manufacturing. We are full manufacturers in the US now."
The company is not waiting to see how the acquisition settles. Adjacent to Fresca Foods' existing facility, Cerealto is constructing a new factory dedicated to cereal bar production. The plant is scheduled to open between August and September 2026, and when it reaches full capacity, it will produce 800 million bars annually. That scale will give Cerealto a meaningful share of a market it is only now entering seriously. Back in Spain, the company is also adding a new production line at its Palencia facility to increase output further.
The financial picture reflects this ambition. Cerealto's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization—ebitda—reached 53 million euros at the end of 2025, a modest 1.2 percent increase. But the company is targeting double-digit ebitda margins, and Fonts suggests that goal is within reach. Half of Cerealto's revenue still comes from Spain and Portugal; the other half comes from everywhere else. The US expansion is meant to shift that balance, to make the company less dependent on its home market and more present in the world's largest snacks economy. Whether the new factory and the Fresca Foods acquisition can deliver on that promise will become clear over the next year or two. For now, Cerealto is building and betting that the appetite for what it makes will keep growing.
Citas Notables
We have abandoned first courses like pasta to adapt to consumer trends and focus on growing categories like snacks, breakfasts, and afternoon snacks— Bosco Fonts, CEO of Cerealto Foods
When the facility is finished, we will be able to manufacture 800 million bars, which will give us a relevant market share— Bosco Fonts, CEO of Cerealto Foods
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why sell the pasta business if it was generating revenue? Wasn't that a risk?
It was a deliberate choice. Pasta is a mature category—it's not where consumer demand is moving. By selling it, Cerealto freed up capital and management attention to focus on snacks and cereals, which are growing at double digits. Sometimes you have to step back from what's working to reach for what's about to work bigger.
And the US acquisition—was that about avoiding tariffs, or about growth?
Both, but tariffs were the immediate pressure. If you're shipping cereal bars from Spain to America, tariffs eat into your margins. By manufacturing in Colorado, Cerealto becomes a domestic producer. That protects the business. But it also puts them inside the world's largest snacks market, where they can scale faster than they ever could from Europe.
Eight hundred million bars a year is a lot. How confident are they that they can sell that much?
They're betting on it. The Fresca Foods acquisition brought them 100 million euros in existing revenue and a foothold in the market. The new factory is meant to multiply that. But yes, there's risk. They're counting on the US snacks market to keep growing and on their ability to compete against established players.
What about the home market? Spain and Portugal are still half their revenue.
That's the balance they're trying to maintain. They're not abandoning Europe—they're adding a new engine. The Palencia factory is getting a new production line too. The goal is to grow everywhere, not to shift all their eggs to America.
How does this fit into the bigger picture of European food companies?
It's a classic move: consolidate at home, then go international. Cerealto is small compared to the giants, but it's moving with intention. The pasta sale, the US acquisition, the new factories—it all points to a company trying to become something bigger than it was.