The company Grupo Lala was incorporated in Torreón, Coahuila, on November 1, 1984, under the name “Grupo Industrial Lala, S.A. de C.V. ”, in accordance with the General Law of Commercial Companies, with a duration of 99 years.
Now the company is a holding company: it carries out all its operations through subsidiaries.
How did the history of Grupo Lala begin? The company began its operations in 1949, in La Laguna, when a group of farmers joined their efforts, in order to carry out the process of pasteurization and commercialization of milk from milk producers in La Laguna.
It was until 1966 when Transportadora de Lácteos Laguna, S.A. was created. de C.V., a transportation company, to collect and keep milk purchased from the stables at a low temperature.
A year later, the company expanded its operations by establishing the central Mexico division of Pasteurizadora Laguna, S.A. de C.V.
With this division, Grupo Lala began to directly process and distribute Pasteurized Milk, in what is now defined as the Central Zone of the country.
History of Grupo Lala
In 1971 another step was taken towards vertical integration, with the establishment of Envases Especializados de la Laguna, S.A. de C.V., whose purpose is to produce carton packs using Pure-Pak’s proprietary process to meet your packaging needs, as well as for sale to third parties.
The geographical expansion of the company continued when in 1972 it acquired Pasteurizadora Acapulco, S.A. de C.V., a company that owns a plant with which it met the demand for dairy products from the Port of Acapulco, Guerrero, as well as from nearby cities in the region, defining this area as the South Pacific Zone.
Also, in 1978, the company merged with Pasteurizadora Nazas S.A. de C.V., based in the city of Gómez Palacio, Durango, to process and commercialize dairy products in what is defined as the Northeast Zone of the country.
A year later, Enfriadora y Transportadora Agropecuaria, S.A. was created. de C.V., in order to increase the capacity to collect, cool and transport the milk from the stables.
Then, in 1983, Grupo Lala established Lala Derivados Lácteos, S.A. de C.V., with the strategic objective of expanding its product offering and introducing value-added products for its consumers.
More acquisitions
In 1986, the company entered the Ultrapasteurized Milk market, with the opening of the plant Ultra Lala, S.A. de C.V.
To reinforce its presence in the North Zone, Grupo Lala acquired Pasteurizadora de Durango, S.A. in 1992. de C.V., located in the city of Durango.
During that same year, it bought a plant owned by the Government of the State of Guerrero, located in Acapulco. This more modern and efficient plant replaced the plant that previously operated in Acapulco.
In 1994, the company began a new stage in its growth and a new marketing strategy began.
Subsequently, the company established Tecnopak in 1997, to achieve greater flexibility and efficiency in the supply of plastic packaging for Grupo Lala.
Supplies
In 1997, the cardboard packaging plant changed its name to Envases Especializados de la Laguna, S.A. de C.V. by Envases Elopak, motivated by the sale of 49% of the shares of Lala Elopak (controller of Envases Elopak and Elopak México, S.A. de C.V., our cardboard distribution company) to the Norwegian company, Elopak a.s.
Then, in May 1997, the company expanded to Jalisco to supply milk and pasteurized beverages to this region, which is currently defined as the Western Zone.
After in 2000 it acquired the “Leche Queen” brand in La Laguna and at the same time bought the factory that produced “Leche Suprema” in Mazatlán, in 2001 Grupo Lala acquired a stake in Leche Bell, with operations in the north of the country.
The company acquired in 2003 the assets of Grupo Latinlac, S.A. de CV, including milk plants located in Aguascalientes, Hidalgo and Veracruz, with recognized brands, including Nutrileche, Mileche, Plenilac, Baden, Los Volcanes and Vitalac, as well as cheese plants and their derivatives located in Gómez Palacio, Durango, and Naranjos, Veracruz, which produced fresh cheeses under the Los Volcanes brand.
In addition, the acquisition included 22 distribution centers in Mexico. And it acquired assets of the company Grupo Prolac, S.A. de C.V.
That same year, its own distribution network was strengthened, venturing into the states of Veracruz, Tabasco and Yucatán.
First, in 2004, the company began direct distribution to the Chiapas and Baja California markets; Then, in 2005, it built the Tecate Plant in Baja California, which produces Pasteurized Milk and beverages, and inaugurated the Yoghurt and Derivatives factory in Irapuato, one of the most modern in the world of its kind.
Internationalization
As part of its operations outside of Mexico, during 2008, Grupo Lala acquired a dairy company in Guatemala, its first manufacturing plant in the United States, and the Gelatinas Art company in Mexico, to expand its offer of desserts.
In 2009, Nuplen spun off Grupo Lala. Nuplen focuses on marketing livestock feed, which it sells to dairy farmers.
Later, in 2012. The company inaugurated the facilities of the LALA Research, Development and Innovation Center in La Laguna, which allows it to strengthen technological development and innovation in food at the national level, which gives us the possibility of increasing its positioning in front of the consumer.
In 2014, it continued to grow in Central America with the construction of its new yogurt and milk plant in Nicaragua, the first stage of which was completed in May 2015.
To complement its growth and accelerate its expansion into high-potential markets, at the end of 2014 it acquired the Eskimo brand assets in Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
Through this transaction, it entered the ice cream category and strengthened its presence in Central America.
