Ferrara Candy Company Orangeburg County Manufacturing Facility

Gov. Henry McMaster announced it on April 22, 2026. Ferrara Candy Company broke ground four weeks later, on May 19. The $675 million plant is the confectioner’s first South Carolina operation and one of the larger single manufacturing investments the state has landed this cycle.

Project Scope

The facility runs 750,000 square feet and holds processing and packaging lines, a warehouse for raw and packaging materials, and administrative office space. It sits at Highway 21 and Rowesville Road, south of Orangeburg. Norfolk Southern has confirmed it will serve the plant, and rail access was a core siting driver rather than an afterthought.

First production lines are expected to run in the first quarter of 2029. That’s an unusually long ramp for a building of this size, and it reflects how much of the schedule is process installation rather than structure. Projected employment is 1,000 manufacturing and corporate jobs over ten years, recruited through South Carolina’s readySC program.

The public participation is large. The State Fiscal Accountability Authority, acting on a Joint Bond Review Committee recommendation, authorized up to $85 million in General Obligation State Economic Development Bonds to offset site acquisition, site improvements and related infrastructure. The Coordinating Council for Economic Development separately approved job development credits.

Why It Matters

Eighty-five million dollars of state bonds against a $675 million private investment is an aggressive site-prep package by South Carolina standards, and it’s worth reading as a signal about what greenfield industrial sites now cost to make shovel-ready. Utility capacity, rail spurs and grading on rural acreage are no longer incidental line items.

Ferrara is a privately held, Ferrero-affiliated company that has been headquartered in Chicago for 118 years, with more than 30 facilities worldwide and over 9,400 employees. Its U.S. brand portfolio includes NERDS, SweeTARTS, Laffy Taffy, Trolli, Brach’s and Jelly Belly, and the growth of Nerds Gummy Clusters has been reported as a direct trigger for the capacity expansion.

For contractors in the Southeast, food and beverage process work has been one of the steadier industrial segments while semiconductor and battery announcements have wobbled. A plant that won’t produce until 2029 is a long, funded backlog.

Project Team & Details