Ferrero North America launched the first Nutella product in more than 60 years, and it’s exclusively made in the Chicago area.
The confectioner held a ribbon cutting Friday at its Franklin Park facility, where it invested $75 million to be able to produce the new product.
Nutella Peanut is the first-ever variant of Nutella since the hazelnut spread debuted in 1964. It also marks the first time a Nutella product has been manufactured in the U.S., according to the company.
The first shipment of Nutella Peanut — only available in North America — hit shelves earlier this month and can be found at major retailers like Walmart and Target.
The new flavor comes as the sweet-packaged food company continues to expand its North American presence with new products and acquisitions. Italy-based parent company Ferrero Group acquired cereal company WK Kellogg Co. last year for an estimated $3.1 billion. In 2017, it purchased Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Co. The following year it bought Nestle’s U.S. candy brands, including Nerds, Butterfinger and Baby Ruth — which adorn Ferrero’s spinning sign along Interstate 294, marking where the candy bars are produced. And in 2022, it bought Wells Enterprises, the maker of ice cream brands like Blue Bunny and Halo Top
Michael Lindsey, president and chief business officer of Ferrero North America, said Nutella Peanut has been years in the making.
“America has a love affair with peanuts — not just in the South but across the whole country. So, we’ve been working on and trying to see how can we adapt the classic recipe of Nutella to incorporate natural peanuts from the U.S.,” Lindsey said. “We finally have a formula that we think is absolutely exceptional.”
He said there’s “really nothing like” Nutella Peanut in the market. The hazelnuts are sourced from Oregon and the peanuts from Georgia and other Southeast states.
The Nutella Peanut line is the first major expansion Ferrero has undertaken at its Franklin Park facility, since acquiring it from Nestle. The product created 50 jobs, spanning from production line packing to on-site supervisors and managers, according to Lindsey.
Many of those new roles are already filled, since production began a few months ago. But “there’s always new opportunities being created,” he said.
The plant at 3401 Mt. Prospect Road was built in the 1960s.
“It’s perfectly situated for us, right there off of the major freeways,” Lindsey said. “[It] produces a lot of our loved products already, so it was a fairly natural choice to expand it for Nutella Peanut.”
Ferrero has has more than 1,700 employees in Illinois, following recent acquisitions.
In 2021, it broke ground on a new $75 million chocolate processing facility in Bloomington, creating 50 jobs. About a year later, the company further invested in the city with a new $214 million Kinder Bueno production facility.
Ferrero’s Innovation Center and North America Research and Development Labs opened in the Loop’s Marshall Field and Co. building in 2023, where it develops new confectionery and packaged food products, as well as existing brands such as Keebler and Famous Amos.
“This investment underscores why Illinois remains a strong place for advanced manufacturing,” Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said in a news release. “Ferrero’s expansion in Franklin Park is creating good jobs, supporting local communities and proving that innovation and production can thrive right here in our state.”
Lindsey anticipates Nutella Peanut’s manufacturing will eventually expand outside of Franklin Park. He said the decision to start locally wasn’t driven by tariffs but Ferrero’s overarching plans for North American investment that have been in place for years.
“I expect [Nutella Peanut] to be a huge hit, and I assume someone else in the world is going to want it at some point,” he said.