About Arenel
History of Arenel
In 1946, Mr Robert (Rube) Lepar and Mr Abe Rubin had a vision which culminated in the manufacturing of sweets, in a small factory in Bulawayo. It was not long before the duo were manufacturing a range of hard boiled sweets that included the ever popular “suckers”, “sugar sticks” and “Apricot Balls”. Demand for their quality products grew and in order to increase their manufacturing capability a purpose built facility was erected in the Belmont Industrial Area of Bulawayo. The partnership of Lepar and Rubin dissolved when Mr Abe Rubin relocated to Harare, where he established a successful bread making enterprise.
In the early 1960′s Arenel entered the biscuit market with the purchase of Crown Biscuits. Arenel continued on its path of growth and product development and in 1973 additional premises were acquired some 200m west of the existing facility. A biscuit plant was purchased from Europe and installed. Arenel now manufactured quality biscuits to compliment their ever popular growing range of sweets. Soon space and development dictated the purchase of yet another factory for warehousing and distribution, along with a facility for the Transport Division and Maintenance Workshops.
In 2011, a state of the art oven with a width of 1.2m was installed which added immensely to the enhanced quality and output of the Biscuit Division. With the immediate impact and success of the products produced another brand new technology biscuit oven with a belt width of 1.5m was installed to complement the existing production capability. The installed capacity allows Arenel to now produce up to 100 tons on a 24 hour production cycle of both soft and hard dough biscuits. We have also added to our sweet production capacity and installed a new lollipop plant line which we intend to grow further in the next couple of years as well as updated our wrapping and packing divisions our sweet division has a capacity of over 70 tonnes per 24 hour shift.
In 2013 a new much need 8000 square meter Warehousing Facility was purchased and redesigned to take care of our new increased production output, distribution and logistical needs to ensure our continued customer service excellence. This year, 2014 we have purchased a factory adjacent to our other manufacturing facilities with a ground area of 2.6 hectares. The projection is to make this ground the new home for a purpose built manufacturing facility for our planned new enlarged biscuit factory together with new automated plant.