Friday, September 13, 2019

An Unforgettable Day with Kinder Joy - the Dream come True Factory visit!


From my childhood days till today, I am a huge fan of chocolates. But one thing that my parents always maintained, was consumption in moderation. We were rewarded for good deeds and chocolates were always accompanied with happy moments, and they continue to remain good memories. Kinder was one such brand that my dad always brought back from Europe with him (it's one of my favourite brands till date), and I have grown up eating Kinder Eggs from the Ferrero Group.

After Aryaa was born, and started consuming chocolates, Kinder Joy has been an indispensable part of our lives. She gets it twice a month for the good deeds that she does or something creative, and she values it as something special that is given to her as a treat. Exactly what I learnt from my parents and continue to do for my daughter. The happiness that she gets in consuming the delicious crunchy wafer balls along with the yummy cocoa cream, it shows all over her face when she eats it and the joy of assembling the surprise toys, are the moments that I truly cherish.


So, last month when I was given an opportunity to visit the Ferrero India plant in Baramati, Maharashtra which manufactures Kinder Joy, I was elated. One because Kinder has always been one of my favourite chocolate brands, and two since Kinder Joy is consumed by Aryaa. I wanted to know more about the whole manufacturing process and of course ask some questions which I always had in my mind. I am glad to have taken up the opportunity and experienced the making of Kinder Joy. It not only was a dream come true, but it also reassured me of the goodness of #KinderJoy and the quality and high standard it maintains. Going to share it all with you guys here!


If you remember the thrill you felt when you watched the 70s musical, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, it was exactly that feeling seeing Kinder Joy being manufactured in front of my eyes! The factory visit started with a presentation on the history of Ferrero Group, details on the Ferrero India plant at Baramati, and the social initiatives that Ferrero Group undertakes worldwide including Baramati for employees, their kids and community kids. It was heartwarming to see that 43% of the plant workers were women who had been trained to work at the plant and were doing a fabulous job. Also the plant is set up in Baramati as the region is rich in cow milk, which is the main ingredient of the chocolates manufactured there, which means they take care from carefully selecting, processing and proportioning of ingredients to ensuing nutritional value. We were then taken to the manufacturing unit where we saw machines of the highest technological levels being used to create Kinder Joy in the safest way needed for the well-being of our kids, which definitely was reassuring.



The Ferrero Group’s flagship treat, Kinder Joy follows five golden rules which include milk of high quality, selected raw materials and production processes with high hygiene standards. You will be surprised to know that there are 200 quality parameters against which Kinder Joy is checked before it leaves the factory. Samples from the Baramati plant are sent to the Ferrero Quality labs at Germany and Italy for random quality checks. The Kinder Joy packaging is made of polypropylene which is recyclable. Even the toys are made from food grade resin and the colour used in the toys are food grade. What was truly eye opening was that the small portion sizes of the product to encourage measured food consumption, and so that our kids don't go overboard. There are no preservatives or colours used in the Kinder Joy, with high hygiene standards followed all through the production process.

An interesting thing to know is that there is no glue used to stick the two halves together - the method used is ultrasonic molecular packaging, which is revolutionary and seeing it with my own two eyes was unbelievable. At the rate at which the plant works, they manufacture 50,000 kgs of Kinder Joy in a day which means 2.5 million Kinder Joy in a day. I was proud to know that the Kinder Joy available in the UAE and USA are manufactured in Baramati, which means that the quality cannot be in anyway questioned keeping in mind the strict laws of these countries.


What I also learnt was that the first regional R&D Lab outside Italy is in India, so that they can research local raw materials and that the products have the ability to withstand local weather conditions and challenges. Such a great educational experience all of this was. By the way, did you guys also know that Nutella and Tic Tac are also manufactured by Ferrero India? Well, they are! 😀

Along with maintaining high quality standards at the Ferrero India plant, what also touched my heart was their CSR initiative - The Pietro Ferrero Kindergarden, which has been set up in Baramati for the children of the employees and for the community kids. There are 140 plus kids associated with them currently. I was touched with the level of care being taken other than the quality education being imparted at the 9000 sq. feet facility. What particularly took my heart away was the love they were given and even the malnourished kids had a special menu to take care of their nourishment. The aim is to take care of these children so that they grow up healthy and become responsible citizens of the country.

Kinder Joy firmly believes that a happy child will be a better adult tomorrow and their commitment to this belief really shows in their well-designed portion size product Ferrero’s global CSR initiative – Kinder+Sport. As part of its continuing efforts to bring the joy of movement into the life of every child, Kinder+Sport has developed the ‘Joy of Moving’ methodology, an innovative educational model, based on games and dedicated to the all-round growth of children. Developed in association with Rome University "Foro Italico", MIUR of the Piedmont Region and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the method is based on games created to promote the physical, cognitive and social development of children and increase their life skills.

16 hours later, I came back home, a happy and well informed mother, who had even more love for the brand Kinder.

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3 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi Rupa,
      Yes it was a really nice experience!

      And so good to hear from you after ages! How have you been?

      Love,
      Ritcha

      Delete

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