A French group buys Grupo Servera, the large food distributor of the Balearic Islands

PalmaA French group has bought Grupo Servera, one of the main food distributors for the Horeca channel in the Balearic Islands, in an operation that represents a new move within the progressive entry of foreign capital into the island's business fabric. The purchase has already been officialized and the most important part of the agreement, as explained by the president and founder of the entity, Tolo Servera, to ARA Balears, is that "nothing will change". In fact, as he detailed, the purchase involves clients, employees, machinery, brands and everything that makes up the company. "We were clear that we didn't want to sell it to an investment fund that would speculate with jobs, we wanted to continue with the company, and that's why we sold it to a group from the same sector," he explained.

The reasons for the sale, Servera explains, are none other than to adapt to the market. "We have seen that we had to grow a lot and that perhaps we didn't have the necessary strength. Now with this new ownership, we will be able to face the challenges of the future," he assures. In this regard, he emphasizes that the company that has bought it already has more than five companies in the distribution sector in Spain and that "they have not made major changes in any of the companies they have acquired".

The acquisition means the loss for the Balearic Islands of a conglomerate built over more than four decades from Marratxí and closely linked to the supply of restaurants, hotels and cafes in Mallorca and Menorca. The sale of Grupo Servera adds a new piece to the constant trickle of companies born in the Islands that, over time, end up changing hands and leaving local control.

Founded more than fifty years ago, the group had consolidated itself as one of the major food distribution structures in the Balearic Islands, particularly linked to the restaurant and hotel industry. With a turnover exceeding 31 million euros and more than forty employees, according to CEPYME500 data, the company had grown to weave its own network that went far beyond simple distribution.

Under the umbrella of Grupo Servera, different brands coexisted, shaping a significant part of the food chain that supplies bars, hotels, and restaurants in the Balearic Islands: Delicy Food Solutions, focused on bakery, pastry, and ice cream products; Corgelat, based in Menorca; and Pescados Mayol Mesquida, specialized in fresh fish and heir to two historic Mallorcan distributors.

Now, with the sale to the French group, this business passes into foreign hands. And it is not an isolated case. Before, it had already happened with Agama, one of the most recognizable brands in the Balearic food industry, which over the years also ended up diluted within much larger business structures until it finally closed and disappeared definitively.

The pattern repeats: companies born here, built over decades and deeply linked to the local economy, which end up integrated into capital and strategies that are decided far from the Islands. It is not just a matter of ownership. With each sale, a part of the territory's economic memory also moves. And, little by little, the Balearic business map is filling up with names that continue to be the same, but which no longer speak from here and end up changing the product and the essence of the company.