As Jackie Sprovieri cut the bright blue ribbon to symbolically open Flavorchem’s newest production facility, she held back tears as she remembered her late husband, Salvatore Sprovieri, who founded the company.

She told the crowd how the completion of the project would no doubt make Salvatore, who passed away in Oct. 2009,  proud.

“I want to express how very proud I am that we’re doing this today, in light of the economic times we’re in,” she said. “It may seem small to some people, but it’s very large if you think about it’s just a group of people building [a company].”

The new 44,000-sq.-ft. liquid production facility in Downers Grove, Ill., features a state-of the art production facility, a more dedicated area for its quality control and regulatory departments, as well as a better training facility for employees.

It’s also flooded with natural light as a result of the numerous skylights, features a spacious conference room with a wall-size window overlooking the production floor, and dairy brick floors that can sustain spills and forklifts.

“When I was 13, my brother had a dream, that he shared with me,” explains Salvatore’s brother, Phil. “My brother’s probably here in spirit, and he’d be proud.”

The new building is part of the company’s Downers Grove campus, which includes: Flavorchem’s corporate headquarters; the sales and customer service and marketing offices; technical and production facilities; and distribution and packaging centers. Flavorchem also has a production facility in San Clemente, Calif.

The company, founded in 1971, specializes in creating and manufacturing flavor and color solutions for the food, beverage, and nutraceutical industries.