WEST LOOP — No one was hurt in fire at Blommer Chocolate Factory in the West Loop Tuesday.
At 11:12 a.m., Chicago Fire Department received a call of a fire at the factory at 600 W. Kinzie St., Larry Merritt, a Chicago Fire Department spokesman, said in an email.
Smoke was observed coming from the roof, and was extinguished within the hour, Merritt said.
No injures were reported and a cause for the fire is unknown, Merritt said.
Stacey Kidd, a spokeswoman for the company, said there was a “thermal event” Tuesday morning.
All employees were “safe and accounted for,” she added. Chocolate makers were already back at work Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier this year , the company announced it would be closing the Blommer retail store to expand the facility.
In 2018, Japanese company Fuji Holdings signed a $750 million deal to buy Blommer and its manufacturing operations in the West Loop.
As part of the acquisition, Fuji Oil, which supplies oils, fats, confectionery and bakery ingredients, will take over operations and manufacturing of Blommer’s three U.S. locations, its Canadian operations and its Chinese operations.
Founded in 1939, Blommer has been family-owned for three generations. The chocolate producer is the third-largest industrial chocolate producer and fifth-largest cocoa bean processor.
Do stories like this matter to you? Subscribe to Block Club Chicago. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Already subscribe? Click here to support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.