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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2004

SCHUMER: 40 NEW JOBS AND $2 MILLION OF EQUIPMENT COMING THIS MONTH TO THE CHOCOLATE PLANT IN FULTON

Schumer and NY Chocolate & Confections CEO Jean-Claude Amon detail progress at the Fulton chocolate plant and plans to re-hire former Nestle plant workers; New equipment, jobs the next step to chocolate production by September

Schumer helped negotiate the initial deal to enable production of candy bars to resume at the site

Standing alongside NY Chocolate & Confections CEO Jean-Claude Amon, US Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that the Fulton chocolate plant will hire 40 new employees and purchase $2 million of new equipment by the end of July to get the plant to ready to produce chocolate by September. Schumer said that the company is moving ahead with plans to re-hire former Nestle plant workers this month.

"Today’s news is one more step towards restoring the jobs at the old Nestle plant. These new workers are just in time to get the plant set up, to fire up the new equipment and return the 150 year tradition of chocolate production to Fulton,” Schumer said. “Forty new jobs is a good start but we can't rest on our laurels. We have to keep moving, and try to fill up the whole plant to employ as many here as we did previously."

These new jobs mark the first wave of non-management new hires and will more than triple the current workforce at the Fulton chocolate plant. The plant will be hiring mechanics, electricians, and maintenance workers who will be charged with readying the plant and its equipment for chocolate production this fall. The new equipment will be used to produce both traditional and contemporary chocolate products and includes $850,000 worth of machines designed to make sugar free chocolate bars that are part of a contract with Atkins Nutritional. NY Chocolate & Confections hopes to re-hire former Nestle plant workers who lost their jobs when the plant closed for many of the 40 new positions.

"What's happening in Fulton is exciting for Central New York," Schumer said. "Slowly but surely we're getting closer to bringing chocolate production back to Oswego County. This has a real chance to lift the local economy in a big way and I applaud New York Chocolate for the progress they're making."
In September, Schumer helped broker the deal that enabled Island Capital Ventures to purchase equipment used by the former Nestle plant to produce low-carb candy bars. The buyer in the deal was Richard M. Duffy, general partner of Island Capital Ventures and an investor in HVC Lizard Chocolate who joined NY Chocolate and Confections to rekindle operations at the plant.

In October, Schumer convened the first ever face-to-face meeting between Duffy and the other investor in chocolate production at the site, Dr. Ousmann Gbane of Lion Capital Investment Group, of the Ivory Coast. The meeting enabled the two investors to figure out ways to work together cooperatively at the site. Schumer's meeting provided the first opportunity for the principals from each group to let the other know of their general vision regarding the future of the site, and to explore ways in which to work together.

Last month Schumer met with the President of the Ivory Coast, S.E.M. Laurent Gbagbo, in Washington to discuss the Fulton chocolate plant and its development. President Gbagbo pledged his full support for the project and accepted Schumer's invitation to join him in Fulton for the plant's groundbreaking.

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