LONDON, ONT. — Dr. Oetker Canada, the maker of frozen pizza, dessert and dry baking products for both retail and food service, has opened a new frozen pizza production facility in London, Ont. The plant, which has been in operation since mid-March, will serve as a production hub for the company’s North American pizza operations.

“Canada is an excellent market for Dr. Oetker,” said Christian von Twickel, executive vice-president at Dr. Oetker Canada. “Canadians are particularly receptive to our type of innovative and high-quality products and we are excited to have opened our first North American frozen pizza plant in London, Ont. We are confident in the local workforce, the Ontario agri-food sector and the North American market and we are honored to be part of the London community.”

The London facility houses the company’s pizza lines, which include such brands as Ristorante, a thin-crust gourmet pizza; Casa di Mama, its Italian homemade style pizza; and Panebello, its bakery crust pizza. The company said the facility will produce up to 50 million frozen pizzas every year for both the Canadian and U.S. markets, and will source millions of pounds of raw ingredients from Ontario farmers and food processors.