The colourful World of
HARIBO – A Company
with a Sweet Tradition
In a word (or two) …
Since 1920, HARIBO has been a family business which is now run by the third generation. In 2010,
HARIBO was given a new corporate structure to create the necessary conditions to ensure that it permanently
remained a family-run international company, to promote continued growth and international expansion, as
well as to safeguard the continued success of the group in the 21st century.
A grand total of 100 million GOLD BEARS are produced worldwide every day! Continuous brand management, which ensures the highest quality control, as well as consumer confidence, are largely responsible for
the success at our 15 manufacturing locations throughout Europe. Worldwide, HARIBO now employs almost
7,000 people.
“Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of HARIBO”. Who doesn’t know the world famous and fami­
liar advertising slogan of our company? Yet, no matter how cheerful and light-hearted the advertising message may be, our slogan carries an absolute commitment and promise to our customers. A promise which
HARIBO has always kept, come what may. It is not without reason that HARIBO sweets are hugely popular
with consumers and have been so for many decades!
A product as well-loved and popular as HARIBO does make people curious though. Our PR and marketing
departments are constantly receiving requests for ever-more information about the colourful world of
HARIBO. Consumers, retailers, and journalists all want to know just how, why and when HARIBO got started,
why the traditional company from Bonn has this name and no other, how the colourful and varied product
range of fruit gums, jellies, marshmallows and liquorice were developed and, last but not least, who it was
who invented the legendary “Gold Bear” and how HARIBO eventually became what it is today: a globally
successful company with almost legendary customer loyalty.
Generations have grown up with HARIBO sweets. Our top priority is to always meet the high quality stan­
dards and expectations of our consumers and that we at HARIBO continue to do this has been clearly proven
by the numerous awards we keep on receiving. With ingenious products, creative packaging and specific concepts, the success story continues. The great innovation strength of the brand is thriving in the 21st century,
too! All HARIBO fans are warmly invited to follow this success story at any time on
www.haribo.com …
Sincerely, Your HARIBO-Team
History
1920 – Hans Riegel
establishes HARIBO
1920
1920 – The first production plant, a backyard
laundry in Bonn-Kessenich
A Sack of Sugar
and a Copper Kettle
Hans Riegel was born on 3rd April 1893 in Friesdorf near Bonn, as the son of Peter
and Agnes Riegel. After finishing school, he completed his training as a confectioner
and worked for Kleutgen & Meier for over five years. He then worked in factories
in Neuss and Osnabrück. After the First World War, the Heinen company in BonnKessenich started looking for a confectioner and Hans Riegel became a partner in the
company. The company subsequently became Heinen & Riegel.
In 1920, Hans Riegel started out with a company of his own. Hans Riegel purchased
a house on the Bergstrasse in Kessenich, at the time a suburb of Bonn, and set up
his first factory there. The starting capital was a sack of sugar, a marble block, a stool,
a brick oven, a copper kettle and a roller. It was here, in this small backyard laundry
building, that the history of this now internationally successful and well-known
company began. On 13th December 1920, Hans Riegel had the company name
HARIBO entered in the trade registry of the city of Bonn as an acronym of
HAns RIegel BOnn. In 1921, Hans Riegel married his wife, Gertrud, and she became
the first employee in the young company.
1921 – Hans Riegel
married – his wife,
Gertrud, was his first
employee
History
1923 – The first HARIBO delivery van
1930
1930 – HARIBO already employed 160 people
HARIBO Gold Bears and Liquorice Sticks –
The Foundations of a Sweet Success Story
Back in 1922, Hans Riegel laid the foundations for HARIBO’s later international
success: he invented the “Dancing Bear” which was a bear figure made from fruit
gum which later became the world-famous, legendary HARIBO “Gold Bear”. The
in­creasing demand led to a necessary investment in modern transportation technology for the sales and distribution areas. In 1923, HARIBO acquired its first car fitted
with advertising signs with which the customers were henceforth to be supplied.
Until that time, the daily production had been delivered by bicycle by Hans Riegel’s
wife and employee, Gertrud. In the same year, their son Hans was born – he was
followed by daughter, Anita, in 1924 and son, Paul, in 1926.
In 1925, just three years after the invention of the “Tanzbär” (dancing bear), Hans Riegel laid the second foundation stone of the HARIBO success story which began with
the production of liquorice products. The first bestsellers were the legendary liquorice
sticks with the impressed HARIBO logo – these were soon followed by many more
liquorice delicacies, including the now world-famous ‘Lakritz-Schnecke’ (liquorice
wheel). By 1930, HARIBO was already employing 160 people. An in the meantime
firmly established nationwide sales organisation of sales representatives supplied the
whole of Germany with HARIBO products. In the mid-1930s, HARIBO had another
stroke of genius by introducing the simple, yet brilliantly catchy, advertising slogan
“HARIBO macht Kinder froh” (HARIBO makes children happy). Steadily rising sales
figures naturally required an expansion of the production capabilities:
Between 1930 and 1933, the main building of today’s manufacturing plant in Bonn
was completed. In the run-up to World War II, the company had become a solid,
mid-sized company with around 400 employees.
1939–1945 found Germany occupied with the unfortunate task of making tanks over
fruit gummy bears and HARIBO experienced setbacks, mainly due to the increasing
scarcity of raw materials. In 1945, the company founder, Hans Riegel, passed away at
the age of fifty-two. His wife, Gertrud, kept the company going through the immediate
aftermath of the war.
1922 – Hans Riegel invents
the ‘Dancing Bear‘
1935
History
1946 – Paul and Hans Riegel take
over the management of the company
1950
1965
Dr. Hans Riegel † 15.10.2013
The Next Generation
The rebuilding of the company began immediately after the end of World War II. In
1945, HARIBO was down to only about thirty employees, but the production facilities in Bonn had at least made it through the war mainly undamaged. The biggest
problem in the first few years after the war was still the scarcity of raw materials.
When brothers Hans and Paul Riegel returned from the POW camps in 1946, they
took over running the company from their mother. Dr. Hans Riegel became responsible for the commercial side, including sales and marketing, whilst his brother, Paul,
became the production manager up to his sudden and unexpected death in August
2009. As an experienced tinkerer, Paul designed many machines himself and even
built the prototypes in a workshop at the plant. One of his most spectacular inventions was a machine for making liquorice wheels. Success followed very quickly, the
flourishing company expanded and, by 1950 – only five years after World War II –
was already employing about 1000 people. Of primary importance for the
consistently increasing success and growth of the HARIBO family company are
the uniformly high quality standards of the products, the constant development
of new and contemporary product ideas and, last but not least, the marketing
strategy developed by Dr. Hans Riegel for HARIBO’s range of products.
In the mid-sixties, the slogan “HARIBO macht Kinder froh” was expanded by the
phrase “– und Erwachsene ebenso” (Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy
world of HARIBO), thus including and embracing new target groups. HARIBO
recognised very early on how important the new medium of television at the
beginning of the 1960s would be for the further development of the company
and, in 1962, the first HARIBO commercials were broadcast on German television.
Since 1998, HARIBO has been using the new media. Anywhere in the world, and
at any time, fans can keep up with the latest developments in the colourful world
of HARIBO just by logging-on to www.haribo.com where, amongst other things,
there is more detailed information on HARIBO’s fascinating success story. Definitely
worth a visit …
2002
Paul Riegel † 02.08.2009
Today
HARIBO International
HARIBO all over the World
A Rainbow of Products and an International Network of Manufacturing, Sales & Distribution
The history of HARIBO is a unique one which has gone from one success to another. What started at a small backyard laundry in a small suburb in Bonn with a sack full of sugar and a copper kettle has developed into one of the best-loved and most
well-known brands in the confectionery industry. The appearance of the products may have changed over the decades, but the
consistent superb, multiple award-winning quality of HARIBO’s fruit gums, jellies, marshmallows and liquorice sweets has always
stayed the same.
Meanwhile, the quality of HARIBO products has asserted itself impressively well beyond national borders. In particular, the very popular “Gold Bears” have become a continual international “bestseller”. The small fruit-flavoured gummy bears are cherished by their
fans all over the world; the Americans love their “Gold-Bears”, the Spanish their “Ositos de Oro” and, in Poland, the people love to
snack on their “Zlote Misie”, to mention just a few examples.
The fact that HARIBO is a global industry leader today is, however, not only due to the guaranteed great quality of its products, but
also dates back to the consistent interest in building a thoroughly integrated production and marketing network right from day one.
Today, HARIBO products are manufactured at 15 locations throughout Europe. In addition, the company has continuously increased
its market standing and the expansion of its product range by purchasing top-quality brands both in Germany and abroad.
An additional element that may help to explain the extraordinary success which HARIBO enjoys around the world, is the special
development of several sweet treats which are perfectly matched to the various country-specific tastes. Bear in mind that the exact
range of HARIBO products is by no means identical from one country to the other. The French, for example, prefer marshmallow
products such as “Tagada” or “Chamallows”, as well as sweets like “Dragibus”. In England, “Star Mix” is the
number one seller with young and old, while Scandinavian countries have a clear preference for “Matador
Mix”, a mixture of fruit-flavoured gum sweets and liquorice..