Junee’s Licorice and Chocolate Factory, located in the Riverina region of New South Wales, has undergone a $560,000 renovation of its historic facility to extend its chocolate production facility and make accessibility improvements, funded by the New South Wales government.
The factory was bought by managing director Neil Druce in 1998, turning an abandoned five-storey flour mill originally built in 1935 into a tourist attraction and production facility that provides liquorice and chocolate to consumers across Australia and internationally.
The New South Wales government granted the company $560,000 to revamp the facility, with the addition of two new chocolate making areas, including a moulding room and additional space for training, design, packaging and storing the finished product.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development executive director, Harriet Whyte, said the project is helping put the Riverina on the map as a home of quality food production.
“There is just so much going for the Riverina, we have beautiful produce, talented artisan food producers and innovative business people and Junee Licorice and Chocolate really highlights what a great place the Riverina is for foodies,” said Whyte.
Druce said production is set to skyrocket by around 250 per cent thanks to the improvements, and the factory has plans for expansion of its range.
“The types of products will increase, and we’ll be able to make chocolate blocks with different things in them, and we’re going to be able to do in one hour what is currently taking us seven days to do, so there are big efficiencies being made,” said Druce.
“We’ve got a lot of great things here and we’re going to have even more things in the future, but I think the number one thing, my favourite mix, is milk chocolate, organic milk chocolate on organic liquorice it just combines well.”
The upgrade is opening up more local jobs, with a focus on recruiting young adults and Aboriginal employees. Druce said the factory already participates in a youth training program in partnership with Junee Council, Junee High School and TAFE NSW.
“It’s so important to regional areas to have people trained in hospitality, particularly as baristas or chefs because we are so short on that skilled labour, and that is certainly being felt right across Riverina’s hospitality industry,” he said.
