France-based potato crisp maker Altho Brets has confirmed its ambition to open a new production site by the end of 2025.

The company will invest “nearly €100m ($107.7m)” in the building of the plant, which will be located near its existing factory in Pontivy Communauté in Brittany.

Altho Brets, which also manufacturers for retailers’ own labels, said the investment will increase the company’s production capacity by 15,000 tons and meet growing demand for crisps in France.

The business said France’s crisps category had seen sales grow by more than 4% in 2022, without citing the source of the data. Forty per cent of crisps bought in the country are imported, it added.

Construction will start in the second half of 2024, with production expected to begin by the end of the following year.

Laurent Cavard, the CEO of Altho Brets, said the investment will create “more than 40 jobs”.

The group, meanwhile, plans to “modernise” its existing site, where 336 employees work, to improve productivity.

The company, which manufactures for retailers including Auchan, Aldi, and Intermarché, has a third site in France in Ardèche.

It also has a plant in Portugal and is “developing [its] business on the international level”, both with the Bret’s brand and with private-label products.

In 2022, family-owned Altho Brets generated a turnover of €206m.