Bel Group Celebrates 150-Year Anniversary
This year Bel is celebrating its 150th anniversary. A unique event in the life of this French family company, which has become a world leader in branded cheese.
One-hundred-and-fifty-year-old Bel, whose products are sold in nearly 130 countries, has an ambitious growth strategy to double in size in 10 years and is celebrating its anniversary with a viral campaign aimed at eliciting lavish smiles.
Bel, a French company that has successfully established itself internationally
One hundred and fifty years after Jules Bel started up the family business in France’s Jura region, the Bel Group, whose brands The Laughing Cow®, Kiri®, Mini Babybel®, Leerdammer®, and Boursin® are consumed around the globe, is growing the strengths that have made it so successful. Led by Antoine Fiévet, a fifth-generation member of family managers, Bel has strong growth ambitions, backed by a sustainable business model and a robust identity.
The expert in single-serving cheese portions is now more than ever in tune with the times by offering quality, practical and fun products adapted to changing eating habits and society’s challenges. Its success is also the result of a strong company mindset that has made innovation, local availability and enthusiasm unique value-added qualities since its founding.
Bel continues to wear the smile that has made it successful for 150 years. An international company with more than 11,000 employees in over 30 countries, Bel derives more than 80% of its sales outside of France, with over 17 billion portions sold worldwide in 2014.
Anniversary celebrated with the “Say Cheese” campaign to elicit smiles
Because smiles form the core of Bel’s DNA, the Group has decided to celebrate its anniversary with humor and generosity. To rally public awareness, Bel employees and brands have issued a challenge to spread lavish smiles all over the world through the “Say Cheese” campaign. The campaign will benefit the Bel Foundation, which supports initiatives on behalf of children and child nutrition.
How? Starting October 12, 2015, Bel will make a one-euro donation to the Bel Foundation for each smile shared with the company. Everyone is invited to post their smiles on Twitter, Instagram, Vine or Facebook with the #SayCheeseBel hashtag, or upload their photos to the saycheese.bel-group.com website.
For each smile received, Bel will contribute one euro to the Bel Foundation, which supports initiatives on behalf of children and child nutrition. The goal is to elicit 150,000 smiles!
see a promotional video of the campaign
About the Bel Group
The Bel Group is a world leader in branded cheese. Its portfolio of differentiated and internationally recognized brands, including such products as The Laughing Cow®, Kiri®, Mini Babybel®, Leerdammer®, and Boursin®, as well as some 20 local brands, enabled the Group to generate sales of €2.8 billion in 2014. Nearly 11,000 employees in some 30 subsidiaries around the world contribute to the Group’s success. Bel products are prepared at 28 production sites and distributed in nearly 130 countries.
About the Bel Foundation
The mission of the Bel Foundation is to support initiatives on behalf of children and teens in France and globally, with a focus on child nutrition. Since its founding in 2008, the Bel Foundation has financially assisted over 150 projects in 30 countries, allocating nearly €1.5 million for children’s programs. Bel employees active in charitable initiatives for children can also solicit the Foundation’s support. So far, 54 Bel employee teams have been awarded grants to support the initiatives of local nonprofit organizations in which they are involved.