Ferrero North America, part of the global food company the Ferrero Group, announced the opening of its new Kinder Bueno production facility in Bloomington, Illinois.
The $214 million dollar investment will create approximately 200 new jobs and will help drive Ferrero's continued market expansion, the company said.
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The 169,000-square-foot facility is an expansion of Ferrero's existing manufacturing campus in Bloomington. The facility is the company's first-ever chocolate factory outside Europe and produces Crunch bars, 100 Grand, Raisinets, and other chocolate products.
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. Kinder, which also includes Kinder Joy, Kinder Chocolate, and Kinder seasonal products, has grown to a half billion-dollar power brand in the U.S. since it was first introduced in the market in 2017.
In addition to the new facility, the event also celebrated Ferrero's $10,000 gift to Heartland Community College's Advanced Manufacturing Center. The gift builds on the company's partnership with the college -- a Heartland apprenticeship program currently trains Ferrero employees to be certified maintenance technicians.
The investment further expands Ferrero's footprint in North America. Along with the Bloomington campus at Beich Road, Illinois is also home to the company's first ever North American Innovation Center and R&D Labs in Chicago, a plant in Franklin Park manufacturing Butterfinger and Baby Ruth, and a factory on 110th Street in Chicago manufacturing Keebler products.
A new Nutella & GO production line was recently opened at the Ferrero plant in Brantford, Ontario, and the company has other facilities across Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
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