Louisiana Based Candy Company’s Sweet Expansion
If I say Elmer Chocolate you will probably think Easter. The Ponchatula based confectioner is known around the world for their famous chocolate Easter eggs. While making chocolate should be sweet enough in its own right, this Louisiana company had some very sweet news for candy lovers across the globe.
The company officially cut the ribbon on their new $40-million expansion yesterday. What makes this even more special is that the company made the decision to make that expansion here in Louisiana.
Our goal was to keep it right here, not only in the United States, but keep it here in Louisiana. So we figured out a way to do it, and we’re getting ready to open the most efficient boxed chocolate facility in the world.
Those remarks were made by Elmer CEO and President Robert Nelson and reported by the Louisiana Radio Network.
While best known for their Easter products the chocolate eggs are only a small part of the company's total production. The Easter candies amount to about 10% of the total output of the confectioner.
We can manufacture over 100,000 pounds a day, and this is the most efficient facility in the world. So the jobs that we have here are higher tech jobs offering more opportunity for our associates and the people in our community.
Nelson was also asked if the expansion of the facility by some 70-thousand square feet meant chocolate lovers could be expecting some new candies. There's good news and bad news on that front. The bad news is Elmer Chocolate will not be creating new candy. However, they will be making their current products even better.
All of our chocolates have been reformulated. All of them are now premium pieces. The system we have can make premium pieces very efficiently.
With the addition the Elmer Chocolate facility is now expanded to a total of 400-thousand square feet of the most efficient chocolate and candy making in the world.