Ferrero Opens $214 Million Bloomington, Ill., Chocolate Plant
Ferrero North America today (Sept. 30) marked the opening of yet another addition to its production campus in Bloomington, Ill. This $214 million dollar investment will create 200 new jobs and will help Ferrero's continued market expansion in North America.
The facility has been dedicated to making Kinder Bueno, a hazelnut cream-filled wafer covered in milk chocolate and a dark chocolate drizzle. Since its introduction in late 2019, Kinder Bueno has reached No. 17 in sales among mainstream chocolate brands, hitting more than $214 million in retail sales in the past year.
The 169,000-sq.-ft. facility is an expansion of Ferrero's existing manufacturing campus in Bloomington, where former Nestle brands Crunch, 100 Grand, Raisinets, and other chocolate products are made. It’s also the company's first chocolate factory outside of Europe.
The Kinder brand, which also includes Kinder Joy, Kinder Chocolate and Kinder seasonal products, has grown to a half billion-dollar brand in the U.S. since it was introduced in the market in 2017.
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Dave Fusaro
Editor in Chief
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.