Morinaga & Co. — holding company of Morinaga America — has announced plans to open its second North American manufacturing facility in Mebane, N.C. The company will invest over $130 million to build the new facility, which will support increased production for the popular Hi-Chew brand.
With this additional production pipeline, the company will be able to meet the growing demand for Hi-Chew products across all U.S. distribution channels. The new factory is slated to start construction in October 2024 and will be operational in January 2027. With the addition of this secondary factory, Morinaga America Foods is creating over 200 career opportunities for the Orange County, N.C., community with various positions across production, quality assurance, maintenance and support staff.
“Hi-Chew has been steadfast in growing its market share in the U.S. non-chocolate candy category and has achieved 20% year-over-year growth since 2018,” said Teruhiro Kawabe, chief representative for the USA & president, CEO of Morinaga America. “With this tremendous brand growth year over year, we are eager to maximize our production output to continue providing new, innovative Hi-Chew products to consumers and brand fans nationwide.”
The existing North Carolina factory, which began operations in 2015, manufactures the majority of Hi-Chew flavors for North American distribution, with over two billion pieces of the candy produced yearly. With the addition of the new 132,633-square-foot factory, the company will be able to produce hundreds of tons of Hi-Chew candies every year.
Established in 2008, Morinaga America is the official distributor of Hi-Chew, Hi-Soft, and Chargel in the U.S. Morinaga America (marketing and sales) and Morinaga America Foods (manufacturing) are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Morinaga & Co., which began in 1899 as the first, modern candy maker and producer of chocolates in Japan.
