South Australian confectionery institution Haigh’s Chocolates has officially opened a new production facility in Adelaide’s northern suburbs. 

The $120 million factory is expected to significantly increase the company’s output.

“(My) great grandfathers started making chocolates under the shop of the beehive building, but, the first factory was at Parkside, yes, and then Mile End and this is our third,” owner Alister Haigh said.

The Salisbury South factory is powered by more than 1000 solar panels and includes 1.7 kilometres of pipes for chocolate delivery.

“Almost everything we make will come out of this factory,” chief executive Peter Millard said.

“The magic of Haigh’s is in our people, and we wanted to build a facility that allowed us to expand to use the skills that we’ve developed in our team and to grow…

“We’re looking forward to having, you know, 400 to 500 people working at this facility, and that’ll support several 100 people working out of retail stores across Australia.”

The new facility is expected to boost production from 1100 tonnes of chocolate to 2000 as part of Haigh’s ten-year growth plan. 

The company anticipates manufacturing Easter products at the site next year.