Bel Brands Opens New Mini Babybel Production Plant
Chicago-based Bel Brands USA,a subsidiary of Paris-based Bel Group,opened the doors to its new Mini Babybel production facility in Brookings, S.D. The $144 million plant is the largest industrial capital expenditure in Bel Group’s history. Construction of the 170,000-square-foot facility, which sits on a 48-acre site, began in July 2012 and applies state-of-the-art and proprietary manufacturing processes developed in Bel Brand’s Evron, France, facility. The company has already hired 215 new employees and is expected to have 250 hourly and salaried employees on staff by year-end.
“Our Mini Babybel volumes have practically tripled over the past five years. Last year, sales of Mini Babybel increased by 24%,” says Frederic Nalis, chief executive officer of Bel Americas and president and CEO of Bel Brands USA. “Today, Mini Babybel represents a third of our volumes. We invested $144 million to build the new plant, which has a production capacity of more than 22 million pounds, or approximately 1.5 million Mini Babybel portions every day.”