BAHRAIN’S leading premium chocolates and confectionery manufacturer has begun construction of a state-of-the-art facility in Bahrain International Investment Park at Salman Industrial City in Hidd.

Chocolate & Co will build the 13,530-sq-ft facility at a cost of more than $1.7 million on a 43,000-sq-ft plot. The facility is expected to create a minimum of 50 new jobs, with most of them going to Bahrainis.

The new facility will help increase production capacity from its current level of 300 kg per day to 1,200 kg (439 tonnes a year) for the company, whose current annual turnover stands at more than $1.3 million.

The lead construction contract for the facility has been awarded to Al Kobaisi Contracting, which is a subsidiary of the leading Al Kobaisi Group of Companies, a Bahrain-based contracting, concrete manufacturing, construction materials supply and trading conglomerate. The architect is Dheya Towfiqi Engineering Bureau.