Blommer Chocolate Company closing Chicago manufacturing plant
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For decades, people who live, work, or travel in the Fulton River District have enjoyed the delightful chocolate smell generated by the Blommer manufacturing plant just steps from the Chicago River. Soon that smell will just be a memory.
Blommer Chocolate Company announced Friday it is closing the manufacturing plant that has called the Fulton River District home since 1939, citing growing maintenance and operating costs for the building and equipment, which have led to reliability issues at the factory. A specific closing date was not announced.
"It was an incredibly challenging yet inevitable decision to close the Chicago plant. However, in order to propel Blommer to the next level, we must embrace progress, transformation and elevation," Mark Okita, chief operating officer and senior vice president at Blommer, said in a news release.
Meantime, Blommer is planning a $60 million expansion of its Campbellford, Canada, manufacturing plant. Blommer said, over the next few years, it also will invest $40 million in its production facilities in Pennsylvania and California.
"Chicago is a candy capital. This is where it all started," said Robert Karr, senior vice president of the Blommer Chocolate Company. "Unfortunately, things need to change."
A total of 260 Blommer employees were notified on the same day as the public announcement Friday.
"They've been working very hard to keep this plant operational for many years," Karr said. "They know the struggles that it's taken to run something of this vintage."
It was tough news to swallow for people who just walk by the premises at 600 W. Kinzie St. too.
"I'm just devastated," said Chicago resident Matt Kelly. "I'm really going to miss that smell. I don't know if you've could ever replicate it, right? And it was one of the things about Chicago."
Fans of the Blommer Chocolate aroma say it is as traditional as dyeing the Chicago River green for St. Patrick's Day.
"Sometimes it's burnt. Sometimes it smells really, really good," said Chicago resident Carson King.
There is a reason behind the mouthwatering aroma. The Chicago Blommer plant alone produces 200 million pounds of chocolate that eventually gets turned into candy bars.
"We have 750 brands that we support," said Karr. "So there's a good chance any chocolate that anyone eats in North America, we're producing a portion of that."
While the Chicago chocolate factory will be closing, Blommer will keep its corporate headquarters at the Merchandise Mart, while expanding its applications lab and new research & development center at that facility.
"The new R&D Center will support future development, concept testing, processing and ingredient research, continued application evaluation and creation to enhance the customer experience," the company said in a statement.
The new research and development center will open this fall.
"We don't see this as the end," said Greg Phillips, vice president of operations for Blommer Chocolate Company. "This is actually just the end of this actual facility."
But for some, it does amount to a bittersweet goodbye.
"I'm going to miss the smell," said King. "it will waft all around the city, and it's sad to see them go."
