Earl Kruser
29 June 2005
If your business is chocolate it should be booming as producers battle to keep up with consumer demand.
Orley Foods, one of the largest suppliers of industrial chocolate locally, is expanding its already huge operation in Montague Gardens to meet this demand.
"Project Chocolate Factory, as we are calling it, is a new multimillion-rand facility that more than doubles Orley's chocolate-manufacturing capabilities," said marketing manager Saul Abrahams.
"Building began recently and we are hoping to have the factory complete within five months, with a further three months needed for the installation of state-of-the-art machinery."
The new double-storey factory, which is an extension of the existing plant, has a ground floor area of 1 600m2 and a first floor of 460m2.
Abrahams said the design was more efficient than the company's original building.
It would result in a 50% increase in production volumes, allowing Orley to easily meet its local and export market demands.
The new design also features a one-way flow system throughout the factory which is expected to speed up production considerably.
Huge conch machines will crush the raw chocolate ingredients into a liquid form which will then be moved into holding tanks where it will be kept at a certain temperature. From there the substance will be sent for moulding after which it will be packaged.
The new section also features a covered transport route from the wholesale storage area to the manufacturing rooms, which will put an end to rain hampering the flow of production, as has happened in the past.
Abrahams said Orley had the bulk of the local industrial chocolate market as a result of the success of its compound chocolate coatings. In 2004 it expanded its range of products by launching its own couverture chocolate and this product line is fast becoming a firm favourite in the baking, ice-cream, food service and confectionery markets.
The company is essentially a family business and was started by two Polish immigrants over 40 years ago.
Joseph Boleslaw Janik and Harry Myers established what was then a chemical products company, but slowly developed it into the largest manufacturer and supplier of tailor-made ingredients to the food industry.
"The company's name, Orley, is Polish and refers to the place where an eagle makes its nest. The company's emblem used to be an eagle landing on Table Mountain," said Abrahams.
The products that have made Orley hugely successful were previously imported by most of its clients but, because of the company's ongoing research and technological breakthroughs, it has managed to acquire the bulk of the local market.
"Our chocolate is exported to Dubai, the so-called trade centre of the Middle East, and from there it is accessible to the entire region," said Abrahams.
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