Nestlé Bulgaria has invested 44.2 million euro in a new line for production of a new item - three types of KitKat chocolate bars - creating 70 additional jobs. The annual capacity is 15,000 tonnes.
"Until now, Nestlé Bulgaria's production capacity was around 24,000 tonnes annually. The new line allows us to nearly double it. The investment in it is about 10% of the total investments made by Nestlé Bulgaria over the past 30 years since the Swiss Nestlé entered the country," Petar Stoilov, CEO of the Bulgarian company, told the Capital Weekly.
A factory within a factory
The new production facility spans over 3,250 sq.m. Essentially, it is a factory within a factory. Three types of KitKat chocolate bars are produced here - hazelnut, double chocolate and salted caramel - which are already available in the retail network.
The renovation of part of the building into a new hall, which now houses the most modern machines for baking wafer sheets, molding and packaging products, took over 30 months. Bulgarian companies were involved in the design, construction and full installation of the equipment, explained Blagovest Paunov, startup leader at Nestlé Bulgaria.
The production line is over 100 meters long and rises 5 meters in height. It produces 420 KitKat bars per minute, or about 3 million bars on a working day. Each product travels 1.2 km on the conveyor line before it is packaged. All of them are made with 100% Bulgarian flour, the company said.
A new technology allows natural gas consumption to be reduced by up to 30%, water usage by 67% and the overall carbon footprint by 30%, with all packaging material being recyclable.
"With the new production facility we aim to contribute to the aggressive organic growth of the chocolate bar category, where we have not been present before. With this investment Nestlé reaffirms the role of the Bulgarian factory as an expert center for KitKat products at the regional level," Stoilov pointed out.
Since 1994
The factory in Sofia has a history of over 80 years in chocolate production, having been established in 1939. In 1994 it became part of Nestlé Switzerland.
In 2007 the Bulgarian company was chosen as one of the three expert centers for KitKat production on the continent (the other two are in Hamburg, Germany, and York, UK).
In 2020 Nestlé Bulgaria invested 23 million levs (11.5 million euro) in modernizing its production. Part of the funds went toward a new robotic packaging line for KitKat, which resulted in reduced losses associated with packaging material.
Following an investment of 19 million levs, in November 2021 the Bulgarian factory began production of the group's second biggest global brand after KitKat - Smarties chocolate candies.
So far Nestlé Bulgaria has operated in seven product categories: coffee, chocolate, dairy, breakfast cereals, culinary, baby food and pet food. About 90% of the finished products from the Sofia factory are for export.
The Bulgarian company reported sales revenue of over 407.3 million levs in 2023 and expects to book 7.9% organic growth for 2024. In the Capital Weekly's latest K100 ranking Nestlé is 7th in the food sector in terms of revenue. The number of employees at Nestlé Bulgaria exceeds 650.
Nestlé Bulgaria has invested 44.2 million euro in a new line for production of a new item - three types of KitKat chocolate bars - creating 70 additional jobs. The annual capacity is 15,000 tonnes.
"Until now, Nestlé Bulgaria's production capacity was around 24,000 tonnes annually. The new line allows us to nearly double it. The investment in it is about 10% of the total investments made by Nestlé Bulgaria over the past 30 years since the Swiss Nestlé entered the country," Petar Stoilov, CEO of the Bulgarian company, told the Capital Weekly.
