The story
Founded by Lorenzo Servitje on Dec 2, 1945.1
1945–1960
Grupo Bimbo began operations in Mexico City on December 2, 1945, with Panificación Bimbo, S.A. as the official name. The company started with 34 employees, selling cellophane-wrapped large and small white loaf bread, rye bread, and toast bread. Lorenzo Servitje Sendra, José T. Mata, Jaime Sendra Grimau, Jaime Jorba Sendra, and Alfonso Velasco, were the partners who started the bakery company.
The name "Bimbo" was chosen among other candidates such as PanRex, Pan NSE (initials in Spanish for Nutritious, Tasty, and Inexpensive), Sabrosoy, Pan Lirio, and Pan Azteca. The name was formed as the combination of the Disney Bambi and Dumbo films names, which were the favorite movies of Marinela, Lorenzo Servitje's daughter. Later, the founders would find out that bimbo is an Italian slang for children (shortened from bambino), and that in China the word for bread (面包, miànbāo) is similar to the name of the brand.
The brand's ambassador, the Bimbo Bear (Osito Bimbo), was also created in 1945. It was inspired by a bear drawing in a Christmas Card given to Jaime Jorba. Anita Mata, Jaime Sendra's wife, was the one who added distinct features such as the hat, the apron, and the bread under its arm.
By 1948, Grupo Bimbo had nine different products like white bread, toast bread, black bread, sweet bread, buns, and muffins. Thanks to the production growth, in 1949, the first branch outside of Mexico City was opened in the city of Puebla.
By the 1950s, Grupo Bimbo took its products to more people with the "38", a delivery truck with speakers that helped promote the products. Shortly afterward, the portfolio extended with the addition of Bimbo Bear Donuts, Bimbollos (hamburger bread), Medias Noches (hot dog bread), and Colchones.
On its tenth anniversary, in 1955, Grupo Bimbo had 700 employees and 140 vehicles. In 1956, the company opened Bimbo de Occidente (Bimbo of the West) factory with Roberto Servitje as its general manager, and, in 1958, launched Gansito, a chocolate-covered snack cake filled with strawberry jelly and whipped cream.
1961–1980
In the 1960s, Grupo Bimbo kept expanding with its arrival in Monterrey, Nuevo León, and its first administrative restructuring in 1963, which led to the creation of its corporate structure. A year later, in 1964, the company acquired the rights in Mexico of Quality Bakers of America's brand, Sunbeam.
In the 1970s, the company had significant growth in several areas. In 1971, Barcel, one of its most important brands, began operations; In 1972, it opened its bakery plant located in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, the largest in Latin America and one of the ten largest in the world, at the time.
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During this decade, Grupo Bimbo entered the marmalade market with Mermelada Carmel (1973); inaugurated Suandy and Tía Rosa (1974), began the production of Conchas Bimbo (1975); and launched Ricolino, the company's leading sweets and chocolate brand, and Bubulubu with it (1978). By the end of the 1970s, Grupo Bimbo was formed by three companies, 12 plants, and 15,000 employees; during this time, Roberto Servitje was appointed CEO.
1981–2000
At the beginning of the 1980s, Grupo Bimbo presented relevant internal and external changes. It started quoting on the Mexican Stock Exchange, trading 15% of its shares, and a new organizational structure was generated in 1986, from which a single industrial group was created. In these years, exports to the United States of America began (1984); Bimbo Centroamérica was created in 1989 with the construction of a plant in Guatemala, which was completed in 1990. the company had previously operated in the 1980s in Guatemala and El Salvador through the Winni brand which would later become Marisela in those countries.
In the early 1990s, Milpa Real tortillas, Candy Max and Lonchibon were added to its brands. In 1993, opened its new corporate building in Santa Fe, Mexico City, and in 1995, acquired Cajeta Coronado, an enterprise specialized in cajeta-based products. During this decade a further expansion in Latin America took place, with the arrival of Bimbo in Argentina and the opening of the regional corporate in 1991, as well as the Ideal plant in Chile in 1995. In 1994, Grupo Bimbo purchased La Hacienda, a tortilla maker in California expanding its operations in the U.S. market. In 1997, it furthered its US based offerings to the U.S. bread market with the purchase of Pacific Prides Bakery, San Diego, California and, in 1998 when it purchased Mrs Baird's Bakeries in Texas, Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) was born.
Finally, in 1997, Daniel Servitje was appointed the company's CEO, setting a new course for Grupo Bimbo's operations worldwide.
2001–2010
At the beginning of the 21st century, Grupo Bimbo added brands such as Plus Vita and Pullman in Brazil (2001); Joyco, Alimentos Duval and Lolimen, the manufacturers of Duvalín, Bocadín and Lunetas (2004); Pastelería El Globo and Chocolates La Corona (2005); and Nutrella of Brazil (2008) to its portfolio. it also introduced the Olocoons figures and animated television series which has become a culture classic towards the public in Mexico and Central America.
In 2006, Groupo Bimbo began operations in the Asian market with the acquisition of the Panrico Bakery in Beijing, China. The company also strengthened its presence in the United States of America with the acquisition of George Weston Limited bakery, owner of brands such as Thomas, Oroweat, Arnold, Boboli, Stroehmann and Freihofer's in 2009.
2011–present
In this decade, Grupo Bimbo consolidated itself as the largest bakery company in the world by acquiring Sara Lee North American Fresh Bakery in the United States; Fargo in Argentina; Dulces Vero in Mexico; and Bimbo Iberia in Spain and Portugal, in 2011. A year later, the company completed its most important conversion to renewable energy with the inauguration of the Piedra Larga wind farm (in the city of Oaxaca), which supplies several of Grupo Bimbo's facilities, as well as its electric vehicles fleet with "green" energy.
In the following years, Grupo Bimbo acquired several companies to boost its global growth strategy, some of the most prominent were: in 2014, Canada Bread (Canada) and Supan (Ecuador); in 2015, Vachon (Canada); and, in 2016, Panettiere (Colombia), General Mills (Argentina) and Panrico S.A.U. (Spain and Portugal).
In 2017, the company began operations in Africa and continued its growth in the continent, with the acquisition of Groupe Adghal in Morocco; East Balt, one of the most important foodservice companies in China, France, Italy, Morocco, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States; and by purchasing 65% of the Ready India Private Limited's (Ready Roti) shares. This year, Grupo Bimbo added to its portfolio brands like Bays English Muffins (United States) and Stonemill Bakehouse (Canada).
In 2018, the company continued its expansion and completed the purchase of Nutra Bien brands in Chile and El Paisa in Colombia, in order to grow in South America; Grupo Mankattan, a leader in the baking industry in China, thriving its growth in the fast-food channel in that country. That same year, Grupo Bimbo joined the RE100 initiative, committing to being 100% renewable, energy-wise, by 2025. It also became the first Mexican company to issue Clean Energy Certificates for Distributed Generation.
In 2019, it kept promoting some of its corporate social responsibility initiatives like the Good Neighbor program, Reforestamos México (Reforestation), and Limpiemos México (Clean-up). Among these campaigns, Without Leaving a Trace stood out, with which Grupo Bimbo committed that 100% of its packaging will be recyclable, biodegradable, and/or compostable by 2025.
In February 2020, Grupo Bimbo expanded its operations and arrived in Kazakhstan, through Bimbo QSR (Quick Service Restaurants), a strategic association agreement was signed with Food Town, the exclusive supplier of buns and McDonald's franchisee in that country. With this agreement, the company expanded its presence to 33 countries.
In May 2022, Grupo Bimbo agreed to sell its confectionery business, Ricolino, to the Chicago-headquartered food processing company, Mondelēz International for approximately US$1.3 billion. The sale was completed in November of that same year.
In October 2022 the Manchester-based bakery St Pierre was taken over by Grupo Bimbo, in a deal worth more than £300m.
In April 2024, Rafael Pamias was appointed as CEO. Daniel Servitje remains as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
In November 2025, Grupo Bimbo announced Alejandro Rodríguez Bas as its new Chief Executive Officer. He succeeded Rafael Pamias Romero, who stepped down earlier the same year to address personal and health matters.
From Wikipedia’s article on Grupo Bimbo, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4