The Barry Callebaut Group has signed a new, long-term outsourcing agreement with World’s Finest Chocolate, a family-owned business based in Chicago, US.
Under the terms of the agreement, Barry Callebaut will acquire the industrial chocolate manufacturing assets from World’s Finest Chocolate and lease space at their existing production site in Chicago, thus establishing a new manufacturing base for the Group in the attractive Midwest region.
At the same time, Barry Callebaut will supply all of World’s Finest Chocolate’s chocolate demand from the latter’s Finest’s existing Chicago facility.
World’s Finest Chocolate will use the supplied liquid chocolate to continue its manufacturing tradition of delivering high-quality finished products.
Barry Callebaut will invest CHF 5.1 million (US$5.7 million) in fiscal year 2014/15.
Deliveries from the new chocolate manufacturing base in Chicago will commence on March 1, 2015.
The new site will allow Barry Callebaut to also capitalize on growth opportunities with other customers in the region and further strengthen its manufacturing footprint in North America where it currently operates 11 factories.
The company expects the production volume from the new factory to achieve 25,000 tons per annum in the near term.
