However, that year World War II broke out. Since candy products were not essential for the German war economy, it became more and more difficult for the company to get the raw materials needed. The number of employees dropped to about in and less than 20 workers remained on the company's payroll by the end of the war. On March 31, , just a few days before the war ended, company founder Hans Riegel died at age 52, and his wife managed the company in the first months after the war had ended. HARIBO was luckier than other companies--its main production facility was almost left untouched by the war.
The company started out again with 30 employees and the main challenge of the time was to find sugar, raw licorice, gum arabic, and aromas--the main ingredients for HARIBO's products. Hans Riegel, at the time 23 years old, would have preferred to study medicine.
However, he had promised his father to carry on the family business. He had a great instinct for business opportunities and took over responsibility for HARIBO's product development and marketing.
His brother Paul, three years his junior and a skilled engineer, took over the production and engineering part of the business. Paul's technical expertise was in demand when the two brothers evaluated Hans Riegel's ideas for new products and he developed many of the machines used to make them. The "Wheels" were made by hand until Paul invented a machine that curled them automatically.
Besides keeping production up and running and technological standards up to date, Paul Riegel was especially concerned with high quality standards. To keep his staff aware of the this aim, walls in production facilities were plastered with posters containing the slogan "Quality Above All.
Only five years after the war had ended the company employed about 1, people. Beginning in the late s, the company started expanding nationally as well as internationally. One year later the company bought shares in German sweets manufacturer Dr.
Hillers AG based in Solingen. Their name was changed to "Teddy Bears" and their shape became more compact and round. Sung to a simple melody much like a nursery rhyme, the company's slogan was very easily recognizable and soon became immensely popular.
The company's flagship product were the popular Lebkuchenherzen --large, heart-shaped spice cookies. Hillers AG and expanded the existing production facilities in Solingen, which were equipped with state-of-the-art machines for making fruit gums, licorice, and chewing gum.
KG in Neuss, a company with a long tradition. Production started in and the new product became very popular in Germany in the s. The chewy sweet novelty that was not a chewing gum came in fruity flavors such as lemon, pineapple, orange or raspberry and ideally complemented HARIBO's product range.
The company's main focus during the s and s, though, was its massive expansion into Western Europe. One year later the company started doing the same in Austria.
The recipe is a secret, but a representative company admitted that they do use a lot of sugar, the second ingredient in their gummy sweets. Recently, trucks were coming and going from the Haribo factory in Bonn, bringing ingredients in and sending finished gummies out into the world.
One of the trucks making a delivery is from Koelner Zucker, a sugar company based in Cologne, just north of Bonn. The majority of the sugar Haribo uses comes from Europe. To keep cheap, non-EU sugar from flooding the European market and putting European sugar producers out of business, the EU sets sugar prices and taxes sugar imports.
That makes EU sugar more expensive than sugar bought on the world market. This creates a problem for companies like Haribo that do business internationally. To support firms exporting to non-EU countries, Ulrich Preusser, head of Haribo's legal department, said that the EU provides so-called export refunds. Haribo gummy bears, one of Germany's most successful exports, are beloved around the world. In fact, million bears are produced every day and the majority of them are bound for Haribo fans outside of Germany.
Pruesser says Haribo would rather pay competitive prices for their sugar, but until the EU lifts its agricultural protections, the candy-maker needs the export refunds, which amounted to , euros last year. Without these subsidies, it is quite possible that Haribo's original German theme song might not have been translated into so many languages. But for now, as the song says, "kids and grownups love it so, the happy world of Haribo.
Germany has become the last EU country to disclose the beneficiaries of the bloc's generous farm subsidies. Read more. Start video. Please accept marketing cookies to access this video. Happiness worldwide Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo: a promise we keep with our products in more than countries.
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