Belgian chocolatier Neuhaus moving from Plainview to New Hyde Park

Belgian luxury chocolatier Neuhaus is relocating its U.S. headquarters and distribution center on Long Island to support an increase in its number of candy boutiques nationwide.

The company is moving from Plainview to New Hyde Park, where it has leased a 21,000-square-foot space at 50 Nassau Terminal Rd..

The New Hyde Park facility, which will open Monday, is replacing Neuhaus' 12,000-square-foot facility at 120 Fairchild Ave. in Plainview, the company's U.S. home for the past 22 years, said Romain Tabaries, managing director at Neuhaus U.S.

The relocation to a larger facility is needed to support an increase in Neuhaus' number of U.S. chocolate boutiques from 17 to 30 by 2030, Tabaries said.

"So, it really reflects the long-term commitment to the U.S. markets. [Neuhaus Group] strongly believes that this is where we have a lot of opportunities to grow, so it has really been identified as a key growth market," he said, adding the American consumers have shown a strong appreciation for authentic Belgian chocolates.

The Plainview facility employs eight office and eight warehouse workers, Tabaries said, adding two more workers will be hired for office jobs in the New Hyde Park facility. The facility annually hires three temporary workers for its busy season, October to March, he said.

Neuhaus has signed a 12-year lease for the New Hyde Park facility, which is owned by Nassuff Industrial LLC in Melville, said Jillian Buckvar, a member of Nassuff.

The chocolate company is taking about 42% of a 51,150-square-foot building that used to be occupied by the furniture company Castro Convertibles, she said.

All Neuhaus chocolate is manufactured in Belgium.

The company operates in more than 45 countries through more than 800 points of sale, including 64 boutiques in Belgium and nearly 50 airports worldwide.

The Plainview distribution center ships chocolate to Neuhaus’ 17 U.S. boutiques, including one on Long Island at Belmont Park Village in Elmont and nine in Manhattan. The distribution center also ships products to wholesale customers that are high-end retailers, including Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s. The distribution center also ships to U.S. retail customers who buy its products online.

Last year, Neuhaus opened four chocolate boutiques in the United States. It opened one on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in May, and it will open two more shops this year, in Boston in September and Tysons Corner in Northern Virginia in November, Tabaries said.

Four more shops will open next year in New York City, Boston, Chicago and the Washington, D.C., area, he said.

Founded in Brussels in 1857 by pharmacist Jean Neuhaus, the chocolate company markets itself as the inventor of the Belgian praline. Neuhaus opened its first U.S. headquarters on Long Island in Port Washington in 1989, Tabaries said.

In 2006, Compagnie du Bois Sauvage, which is a Belgian investment holding company that focuses on chocolate, real estate and investments via private equity funds, bought all the shares of Neuhaus, which was then delisted from the stock market.

Neuhaus’ global revenue has been growing consistently for the past several years because of an expansion of its e-commerce business and an increase in customers buying its products for gifts instead of alcoholic drinks, spokeswoman Sarah Heuninck said in an email.

Neuhaus Group’s global revenue was $184.8 million last year, the company reported.

The company does not break out sales numbers by country but U.S. revenue growth is strong, Heuninck said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.