Nutella to launch new line in Franklin Park

Italian candy giant Ferrero plans to launch its first new flavor variety of Nutella next year, right from the Chicago area, the Chicago Tribune reported. Nutella Peanut was developed by Ferrero’s food scientists and will be made exclusively at the company’s factory in suburban Franklin Park.

“We think it’s going to be big,” Seth Gonzalez, senior director of marketing for Nutella, told the newspaper. “We do plan on it becoming a significant part of the portfolio going forward, and so we hope that consumers will get behind it and come try it out.”

The plant — which also makes peanut-packed Baby Ruth and Butterfinger candy bars — is being retooled to add the first Nutella production line in the U.S. by January, the newspaper stated.

Expected to be in stores in April, Nutella Peanut will retain the distinctive flavor of the original spread, Gonzalez said. “We didn’t want it to be another peanut butter. There’s a reason why cocoa is still connected as a peanut-and-cocoa formula, instead of just peanuts. It’s more afternoon snacking than lunch, for example.”

Last fall, Nutella, first launched in 1964, unveiled a vegan edition (Nutella Vegana) in Italy and other European countries.