Anyone born and raised in Greece treasures the many childhood memories of swimming in the crystal blue Aegean Sea, visiting the Acropolis for the first time or snacking on everyday treats made by E.J. Papadopoulos S.A., which introduced European-style biscuits to this country 102 years ago.

“We grew up, not only my generation but the previous one, with these products,” noted Markos Revelakis, manufacturing director for the Athens-based company. “I remember the products being distributed to grocery stores in tin cans, so it was more or less bulk cookies and biscuits at that time. They are incorporated in our DNA.”

In Greece, some institutions achieve legendary status over time. Today, Papadopoulos is one of those household names.

It’s the leader in the sweet and savory biscuit market and crackers and cookies and a prominent force in digestive cereal bars and toasted rusks, which are similar to melba toast in the United States.

Some of its popular brands include Petit Beurre, Miranda, Cream Crackers, Filled Sandwich Biscuits, Digestive, Krispies and Traditional Village Rusks. Internationally, the company’s signature Caprice cocoa and hazelnut wafers are sold in 69 countries, and in fact, 20% of its total biscuit business comes from exports.

“Our top-selling products are the flagships of the company and some of the first ones that we introduced, such as our plain biscuits, our sandwich biscuits with a cream filling inside, and our cream crackers made with a sourdough recipe and a laminating process with 1,296 layers to create its unique texture,” explained Eleftherios Makras, the company’s R&D director. “We still follow the most traditional processes, but with modern technology, all of the other products are pretty automated.”

He attributes the family-owned company’s success to its owners, including third-generation Ioanna Papadopoulou, president of the board and chief executive officer, and fourth-generation Evangelos Argyropoulos-Papadopoulos, vice president of the board and deputy CEO.

“Our CEOs are obsessed with quality,” Makras said. “Consumers know that the Papadopoulos brand means quality, and they have confidence in what we do and trust in us from the type of ingredients we use to our focus on food safety. These are the pillars of our success.”

During the past decade, Papadopoulos, with more than 200 million euro ($220 million) in annual sales, has been diversifying by leveraging its expertise in biscuits to develop a more healthful and flavorful line of wholesome digestive cereal bars that reimagined the market in Greece. Moreover, the pursuit to be a more broadline food company prompted Papadopoulos to enter the sliced packaged bread market in 2013. It was a dramatic shift for the operations group.

“Bread was not only a new category, but it was also a major change for our company because it was the first fresh product that we introduced that didn’t have a six- to 12-month shelf life and required a change in distribution,” Makras said. 

Revelakis said it was a very cautious first step.

“Very quickly, it proved to be not enough capacity at all because our entrance into the bread market was so successful,” he said.

In 2015, the company increased bread capacity in the Oinofyta bakery, but again, it couldn’t keep up with the demand. In 2022, a 38-million-euro ($41.8 million) expansion including buildings, production line and utilities, doubled the size of the now 220,000-square-foot operation. The company added new ingredient handling capabilities and a computer-controlled bread line that cranks out 4,200 loaves an hour.

About 300 people work at the Oinofyta bakery, which houses two bread and two rusk lines. Overall, about 1,500 are employed at the company, which produces its biscuits, crackers, cereal bars and more at its Athens, Volos and Thessaloniki bakeries before shipping the products via a distribution center in Aspropyrgos. 

The top-selling breads are Papadopoulos Toast Gefsi2 Wheat brand that also comes in Wheat with 6 Cereals; Wholegrain Wheat with Rye; Wholegrain & Dinkel; and Multiseed Wheat.

“It’s ideal for sandwiches, toasted for bruschetta or as a side to your daily meals,” Makras observed.

Papadopoulos also rolled out Choriano, a line of open-top sliced bread that comes in Multigrain, Multiseeds and Special Whole Wheat. The company also developed Papadopoulos Dikokko, a premium sliced bread made with whole grain flour and chia and quinoa seeds with nutrients that support immunity health. Additionally, Papadopoulos Toast Plus is a sliced bread fortified with vitamin D, calcium, iron and folic acid.

“They’re healthy and tasty products,” Makras explained. “We entered the bread market not just with a commodity — of course, you need a commodity like white toast to compete in this market — but also with variety in this category. We want to offer a difference in taste using ingredients like sourdough that is also a digestive carrier.

This article is an excerpt from the February 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Papadopoulos, click here.