DAVID BRUSER
BUSINESS REPORTER
TORONTO STAR

If it’s true chocolate comforts the depressed, no wonder Brantford’s economy is developing a sweet tooth.

There’s perhaps no greater symbol of the Telephone City’s economic transformation than the $50 million candy manufacturing plant that Italy-based Ferrero Group is building in the city’s northwest business park.

There are currently 20 businesses involved in food products manufacturing, 12 of which opened in the Brantford area between 1996 and 2004. The 20 companies account for more than 600 jobs in the region. Not including Ferrero, the food manufacturing sector employs about 1,300.

Locating in Brantford also situates companies just outside the congestion and expense of the GTA. Geography proved a major draw when Dure Foods Ltd. Planned to build a new facility in Brantford two years ago.