In April, the company COMEPAR S.A. opened its new facility for processing vegetables and salad leaves in Areguá, Paraguay. In the newly erected central kitchen, the processed foods are used to prepare fresh meals for schools and other educational institutions in Paraguay.
The facility, which covers an area of 10,000 m², was created to ensure sufficient capacities for the preparation of food for 400 educational establishments. It is now used to process several thousand kilograms of fresh food every day to supply approximately 200,000 healthy, ready-to-eat meals to school pupils and students.
The official opening of the food processing facility
The official opening of the facility on April 16, 2026, was attended by the President of the Republic of Paraguay, several ministers, and other representatives from the public and private sectors. The comprehensive investment in the construction of the new building and modern equipment makes the central production facility of COMEPAR S.A. a state-of-the-art example of food industry technology and serves as a model for the catering industry in the Latin American country.
KRONEN technology for industrial vegetable and salad leaf processing
To process large amounts of vegetables and salad leaves, the company invested in two processing lines and further machines from KRONEN GmbH. When washing and peeling tuber and root vegetables such as potatoes and carrots, the catering companies uses a potato processing line in which up to 1,200 kg of product per hour is first pre-cleaned on a water bunker belt and then peeled by one of two PL 40K potato peeling machines. A line containing a trimming table, a HEWA 3800V PLUS washing machine, and two KS-100 PLUS lettuce and vegetable spin-dryers processes salad leaves.
In addition, cutting machines such as the GS 10-2 and the KUJ V, including various cutting inserts, ensure the efficient cutting of different fruits and vegetables. With their hygienic design and simple knife replacement, the KRONEN machines enable efficient processes and consistently high processing quality, even in the case of frequent product changes. Given that the meals are primarily produced for children, it was important that the food processing equipment be able to produce smaller cutting sizes for fruit and vegetables than commonly seen in the industry.
From planning to operation: Support from KRONEN and its partner
In the planning stage of the facility, Juan Lindmayer, Export Area Sales Manager at KRONEN, advised COMEPAR S.A. on the processing solutions. In April, the company’s employees were able to put the new machines into operation after completing thorough training with Alejandro Nowak, KRONEN’s Service Technician for Latin America, and with local support from the KRONEN partner PYMAQS throughout the entire process.
COMEPAR S.A. was established more than ten years ago as a catering provider for schools and educational establishments, pursuing the objective of supplying nourishing, high-quality meals for children and young people. The company’s new central production facility now enables the efficient preparation and supply of thousands of meals every day. To this end, the company employs some 3,000 people, many of whom work at its facilities, located about 40 minutes from the Paraguayan capital, Asunción.
A strategic milestone for sustainable growth in the catering industry
Yane Wanzeller Sartori, Managing Director of the COMEPAR Group, explained why the company opted for solutions from KRONEN GmbH: “With a production capacity of more than 100,000 kilograms and more than 200,000 ready-to-eat meals every day, we were looking for providers that could provide outstanding results and solutions for our various applications – and we were impressed by KRONEN’s comprehensive processing solutions. The combination of a large production capacity, reliability, innovation, and optimal hygiene characterizes this facility and makes it a reference project in the regional food industry. By making this investment, we have strengthened our commitment to continuously improving the standards of catering services in Paraguay.”
The start of operation of the modern facility represents a strategic milestone in the company’s history and is its next step towards establishing itself as the national market leader and an international name in the food industry. With this development, COMEPAR S.A. is laying the foundation for optimal production processes and sustainable growth. The company now plans to continue to secure its position and to supply educational institutions in further regions with freshly prepared meals in the future.
