French Food Firm Aims to Build Cheese and Chocolate Factory in Clark

French food company La Rose Noire is going all in when it comes to investing in food production in Clark.

After its macarons-production investment, the company is now eyeing an estimated P2 billion worth of investments to manufacture chocolates and cheese inside the Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone.

In fact, the schedule to sign the lease agreement for the cheese manufacturing project has already been set for June 27, according to Clark Development Corp. President and CEO Noel Manankil. The P2-billion investment will go to the improvement of its leasehold and in purchasing manufacturing equipment for the cheese and chocolate factory.

The original investment commitment of La Rose Noire Philippines, Inc. (LRNPI) was around P46 million but was eventually raised to P250 million. The company’s actual investment has already totaled P545.704 million as of last year.

This third project in Clark is the product of LRNPI’s partnership with another French company called Savencia.

“La Rose is our biggest food related investor,” Manankil said.

Manankil also mentioned that the wholly-owned French firm Savencia will produce the Elle & Vire cheese at the Clark factory. They will also import their raw materials, same as any other milk manufacturer in the country.

Manankil pointed out that the local dairy industry should consider this as a signal to step up so they can meet the requirement of La Rose’s cheese factory.

He also mentioned that they were excited for the chocolate manufacturing project since 66 percent of its cacao requirement will be single origin, and is going to be sourced locally.

“La Rose has a good experience with us because of our trainable labor force. Also because Clark has nearby communities and we have quality workers,” he said.

LRNPI ramped up its workforce to 1,733 workers by the end of 2017.

via Manila Bulletin / Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat