The ICAP Group, in its "Strongest Companies in Greece" survey, ranked General Mills 96th on its list. Only one in 10 companies participating in the survey met the evaluation criteria, which included credit worthiness, and promotion of good business practices and culture.

The honor reflects the efforts of General Mills Greece to build a strong business during the past decade. General Mills arrived in Greece in 2000 with three objectives: To address a significant dough opportunity; to turn around a Häagen-Dazs buiness first introduced through a distributor in fiscal 1995; and to develop an extra leg with niche brands.

Today, the objectives have been met, and operations include the Athens commercial operations office and the Inofita dough plant.

Despite local economy, company on profitable path Company officials in Greece noted that the recognition is welcome news in the wake of economic problems in Greece recently, which have impacted operations and morale.

“General Mills Hellas (Greece) entered the second decade of its existence in a very challenging business environment affected by the worst economic downturn the country has experienced for many years,” says Dimosthenis Bouras, finance manager.

“It is particularly important in these unstable times for us to belong to an 'elite' group of companies whose members are the most powerful in terms of financial stability and credit worthiness in the country, but also widely respected for promoting a culture of good business practices,” he says.

During the past decade, General Mills Greece has built a profitable business -- sales nearly doubled in the past five years alone -- focused primarily on ice cream and dough, both retail and foodservice.

At the same time, the Inofita facility has evolved into an important supply center for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, responsible for the production and supply of baking products across a number of different markets.

Inside General Mills