A chocolate production company is progressing its plans for a factory in Suffolk which will restore more than 200 jobs in the area.
GCB Cocoa’s vision for the former Philips Avent factory, in Glemsford, secured the support of Babergh District Council’s chief planning officer shortly before Christmas.
The firm has worked with the LEP’s Invest Norfolk & Suffolk team since spring 2020. The company approached the Department for International Trade looking for a UK site for a new cocoa processing site.
David Dukes, Head of Inward Investment, said: “We presented a compelling case that convinced the company to acquire the site and invest in our region.
“Our expertise in logistics, links to the Port of Felixstowe, as well as excellent local supply chains, helped to promote our region above other areas of the UK.
“They announced in autumn 2020 that they had purchased the facility and we then worked with them to devise the best approach to achieve planning permission for the required changes.
“We’re delighted to see this project progressing. It is great news for the area and a further boost to our excellent food processing and manufacturing sectors.”
GCB is principally involved in the manufacturing of cocoa-derived food ingredients – cocoa mass, cocoa butter, cocoa cake and cocoa powder.
Before being taken over by GCB Cocoa, the former Philips Avent site operated for 84 years as a baby bottle factory.
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