Lindt to Increase Production at Cocoa Mass Plant by 50%

Cocoa processor and chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli is preparing to invest CHF 74 million (about $80 million) in its Olten, Switzerland facility to increase the location’s capacity for cocoa mass.

“This expansion and modernization of the Lindt Cocoa Center will enable us to increase the capacity of the plant by 50% from 2024 and to keep pace with anticipated market demand,” Marco Peter, chief executive officer of Lindt & Sprüngli Switzerland, in a company release issued Sunday. “Together with the last expansion in 2018, a total of over 100 million Swiss francs will have been invested in the Olten facility within a very short period.”

During the project, the company will increase the size of production-related areas in the plant and expand the site’s manufacturing capabilities with new production lines, loading bay for cocoa mass, and laboratory, as well as redesigned administrative offices.

Lindt said the expansion will also include logistical improvements that will improve the flow of inbound and outbound deliveries to the facility.

“Our new investment of around CHF 74 million is evidence of our firm commitment to Switzerland as a business location,” Lindt & Sprüngli Group CEO Dieter Weisskopf stated. “The new capacity provided by the plant’s expansion into an ultramodern and efficient cocoa mass production facility will thus secure the long-term supply of all the production sites in Europe and the future growth of the Lindt & Sprüngli Group as a whole.”

Cocoa mass produced in Olten is processed and refined at production plants in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France.