Barry Callebaut has opened a new factory in Spain, dedicated to the production of frozen pastry - "haute patisserie" - in the Alicante/Valencia region.

Barry Callebaut Pastry Manu-facturing Iberica is an 80:20 joint venture between cocoa and chocolate product manufacturer Barry Callebaut and master pastry chefs Paco and Jacob Torreblanca. The new factory forms part of Calle-baut’s strategy to expand its offering to professionals in ’ready-to-serve’ convenience products, said Philippe Janvier, vice- president gourmet Europe, of Barry Callebaut.

Paco Torreblanca will create the desserts, while his son Jacob takes on the role of production manager. Callebaut is respon-sible for international dis- tribution. The factory employs around 40 people and is capable of producing up to 30,000 pastries per day.