Chocolate-covered strawberries, pralines and other chocolate
delights were offered to a group of businesspeople from the Ukraine
who toured local confectioneries Thursday to get a taste of
American entrepreneurship.
Chocolate-covered strawberries, pralines and other chocolate delights were offered to a group of businesspeople from the Ukraine who toured local confectioneries Thursday to get a taste of American entrepreneurship.
Hosted by Agland Investment Services, Inc. for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Special American Business Internship Training program, the visitors came to America to learn about innovative technologies and marketing concepts and to familiarize themselves with a U.S. industry sector and its regulations.
Eighteen people in the candy-making business came to America for a four-month training program. Interpreter Chris Brown said the group is touring the San Francisco Bay Area and will go to the Trade Expo in Chicago to see what American manufacturing equipment is like before moving on to Philadelphia and the Washington, D.C. area.
On Wednesday the group toured the Cliff Energy Bar factory and was impressed with the worker-friendly atmosphere.
“It’s much different than what they are accustomed to,” Brown said.
Hollister’s stop Thursday was the group’s second day of factory tours. The first local stop was the De Brito Chocolate Factory, followed by a tour of Marich Confectionery.
“We make a lot of pralines,” said Valeriy Plaksiy, manager of a confectionery in the Ukraine for a company that was founded in 1914.
Plaksiy said he was focused on the manufacture of hot candies such as pralines and caramels.
“They are very interested in what the Americans make – the set-up, the machinery and the style of business management,” he said.
Mashtakova Alla is the deputy director in charge of production for JSC in the Ukraine. The company has been around for nearly 200 years.
“In fact, it is the first confectionery plant, which was founded on the southern portion of the Ukraine in 1820,” she said.
Carrie McAlister, director of strategic planning for Agland, said the concept of owning their own business on a small scale is not well understood by the visitors.
“This is an opportunity for them to see how things are done through best management practices,” she said.
SABIT has trained more than 2,500 executives and scientists from the New Independent States – the former Soviet Union – and has proven to be beneficial for American companies with over $240 million in export products that have been sold as a result of the program.
