Gastón: “The official opening of the Ascaso bakery marks a great day for Huesca”

The Councillor of Economy, Industry and Employment, Marta Gastón, chaired the official opening of the new bakery that “Pastelería Ascaso” has set up in the Huesca Logistics Platform (Plhus). “Today is a great day for the city” she said during the event, both because of the contribution by the factory to consolidate the public Platform, and because of the emblematic growth of this company so closely linked to the Upper Aragon provincial capital.
Gastón emphasised that “a new industry has opened in Plhus, and from the Regional Government we have given it the final boost it needed, bringing in numerous businesses which have set their eyes on it”. “The Aragon Regional Government, of which I am part, has carried out global commitment to drive and commit to logistics as a strategic line of development for the Community, and therefore to strengthen and launch Plhus is a priority objective”, she added.
It is a two storey building covering a total surface area of 1,680 square metres, fitted out with state-of-the-art machinery to optimise production of the traditional creations by Pastelería Ascaso. It also has equipment to improve the distribution conditions of the company’s products for its establishments in Huesca, Zaragoza and Madrid, its on-line sales channel and other possible future markets.
On the second floor, an R&D&I laboratory has been set up and a multi-purpose room for courses, demonstrations, sampling and other activities, where this institutional opening ceremony took place, with participation by the Mayor of Huesca, Luis Felipe, the Vice-President of the Central Government Representatives in the province, Elisa Sancho, and the Company’s CEO, Vicente Ascaso.
A total investment of around two million euros has been invested in this new bakery. Just over a year ago, during a visit to the works on the bakery at Plhus, the Councillor encouraged Vicente Ascaso and his daughter Sura, manager of the establishment in Zaragoza, to apply for state subsidies for Regional Incentives that were subsequently managed and supported by the Department of Economy before the administration in Madrid. The grant was announced last February.
In total, support by Regional Incentives amounts to 18% of the part of the investment that can be subsidised, and 50% is being jointly financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Furthermore, the complementary subsidies by the Aragon Regional Government have accounted for a further 9%, and consequently public financing of the project accounts for 27% of the part that can be subsidised.
During his speech at the event, Vicente Ascaso confirmed his commitment to the logistics site Plhus by the company, which this year celebrates 127 years of business, to improve national and international distribution of their products. “The site is unbeatable, since it is located on the Huesca – Zaragoza highway, just 40 minutes from the regional capital and 90 from Lerida, which positions the bakery in an excellent logistics site, with quick connections to the centre of Spain and the Mediterranean, and also the main cities in France”.
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