The confections company known for producing Nutella and Kinder products announced plans to invest up to $214.4 million in an expansion of its facility in downstate Bloomington, an investment the company says will bring 200 jobs to the area.
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New Jersey-based Ferrero North America, which is part of the global confectionary company Ferrero Group, said in a news release Monday that the expansion will allow the company to produce Kinder products in North America for the first time.
The expansion comes on top of a $75 million investment in Bloomington announced by the company in late 2020. The company broke ground on that project — its first chocolate factory in North America — in 2021, and the facility is expected to be completed in spring 2023, according to spokesperson Kelsey McGeough. When the additional expansion is completed in 2024, it will add 169,000 square feet to the facility.
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Ferrero will produce its Kinder Bueno bars and minis at the new facility. The company first launched the candy bars — wafers coated in chocolate and filled with a creamy hazelnut filling — in North America in 2019, and the brand is now worth $167 million on the continent after growing more than 51% over the past year, the company said in a news release.
“We want to continue to support demand and build on the momentum,” said Todd Siwak, Ferrero’s president and chief business officer.
Siwak said the production of Kinder Bueno products in Bloomington would increase availability of the treats in North America and allow the company to pursue additional sizing and packaging options, such as a fun-sized bar.
He said the company did not anticipate changes in Kinder Bueno pricing due to the domestic expansion, but said he anticipated it would eliminate any potential supply chain challenges in production.
Currently, just under 400 people work at the Ferrero facility in Bloomington, McGeough said. Workers there make Ferrero’s Crunch, Rasinets and 100 Grand brands. When both expansions are completed and staffed, the plant will employ more than 600 people, McGeough said.
The company is receiving an enterprise zone property tax abatement for the expansion in addition to an Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE, tax credit from the state of Illinois, Siwak said.
Ferrero also secured a sales tax exemption for building materials for the first portion of its Bloomington expansion.
In a statement, Gov. J.B. Pritzker praised the investment, calling it a “testament to Illinois’ talented workforce and reputation on the global stage.”
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“We thank Ferrero for its vote of confidence in Illinois and for bringing more opportunity and jobs to the Bloomington-Normal region,” he said.
Ferrero was founded in Italy in 1946. In 2017 it acquired Ferrara Candy, the maker of Lemonheads, and chocolatier Fannie May, both Chicago-based companies. In 2018, the company bought Nestle’s U.S. candy business, including the Butterfinger and Nerds brands, and in 2019, it acquired a portion of Kellogg’s North American snacks business, including Famous Amos cookies.
