"Rap Confectionary" wants to produce new brands of chocolate

Ovidiu Vrânceanu, Braşov

"Rap Confectionary" intends to rent a second production line from the Kraft chocolate factory in Bra ov, in order to expand its product range. The owner of the company, Radu Popeia, said that the discussions on the handover of the first production line are already completed, the one for producing Chokotoff bonbons and Smash chocolate bars, and the company is discussing making other private label products for various customers. Mr. Popeia said that he might even decide to buy the two production lines, further down the road.

The company"s management last month handed the layoff notices to the first 134 employees to be let go at the end of June, with the remaining 270 employees to be laid off at the end of the year, when the factory in Bra ov will be shut down and production will be moved to Bulgaria.

According to Doina Cavache, the reason behind the shutdown was the impossibility of expanding the production capacity. "The strong growth of Kraft Foods has generated the need to increase our production capacity", Lachlan Grave, General Manager of Kraft Foods Romania also said. "Due to space limitations in the existing buildings and to the fact that the Kraft factory was located in the middle of the city, increasing production capacity was not viable. We reviewed our factories" production capacities and identified the opportunities to better consolidate production, in order to allow for expansion in the future. Transferring production will not affect our commitment to continue expanding our operations in Romania", he said. Doina Cavache also said that some activities, like the production of chocolate tablets, will be relocated to Bulgaria.

According to estimates by the company, Kraft Foods has so far invested USD 30 million in the Bra ov production facilities.