The story
Founded by Hans Riegel on Dec 13, 1920, in Bonn.1
Early history
On 13 December 1920, the company was registered in the commercial register by its founder Johannes Riegel. In 1921, his wife Gertrud Riegel was the company's first employee. According to the company, Riegel's seed capital was a sack of sugar, a copper pot, a marble slab, a stool, a stonewalled stove and a roller. In the same year, he bought a house that was located in the Kessenich district of Bonn, on a street called Bergstraße. The house was Haribo's first production facility.
Two years after the company's founding, Hans Riegel invented the precursor of the Goldbear, which was still called Tanzbär (Dancing Bear) at that time. However, it was not only bigger than the present gummy bears, but also softer, due to the use of gum arabic instead of the now common gelatine.
In 1925, Haribo began producing licorice products. The sales organization in Germany and the main building of the new production facility were established at the beginning of the 1930s.
1940s-1990s
According to the company, production fell immensely during the Second World War, partly due to a shortage of raw materials. After Johann Riegel's early death in March 1945, the company was initially continued by his wife. After sons Hans and Paul returned from captivity in 1946, they took over its management.Hans Riegel Junior represented the company externally, while Paul Riegel headed research and product development and hardly ever appeared in public. In 1957, Haribo took over the Godesberg company Kleutgen & Meier, where Hans Riegel Senior had had his first job. In 1961, Haribo took over Bonera Industrie en Handelsmaatschappij NV in Breda and continued to run it as Haribo Nederland BV. In the 1960s, a new headquarters building opened in Bonn.
In 1967, Haribo acquired shares in the French confectionery factory Lorette, in Marseille, which was renamed Haribo-France SA. In 1987 it merged with the southern French manufacturer Ricqles Zan to form Haribo Ricqles-Zan with production facilities in Marseille, Uzès and Wattrelos. The company's only small factory museum is also located at the Uzès site.
In 1968, Haribo bought shares in the Solingen company Dr. Hillers, eventually taking it over completely in 1979. From 1980 onwards, a new production facility was built at the site in three expansion phases. In October 2011, the Solingen location was expanded to include a high-bay warehouse, an office building and a goods handling hall.
Haribo has since expanded its operations, taking over many local confectionery manufacturers around the world. It began international expansion in the 1960s. Haribo entered the British sweets market by buying Dunhill's in 1972, a manufacturer of liquorice Pontefract cakes which was founded in the 18th century.
In 1986, the company bought the production and rights to Maoam and Haribo Chamallows (formerly "Dulcia").
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Expansion into the United States
Haribo had been first imported locally in Hawaii and California in 1972, but between 1977 and 1979 it was later officially expanded nationwide.
When Haribo of America was incorporated in the 1980s in Baltimore, Maryland, Haribo's gummi candies were introduced to the US mass market through retailers such as drugstores, grocery stores and discount stores. The packaging was translated into English, and package weights were adjusted to match US sizes. A laydown bag was used for US supermarkets, instead of the hanging bag commonly found in German supermarkets, and a boxed product was developed for theaters.
Sales soared the first year, and gummi bears became so popular in the US that the US market was soon flooded with competitors such as German Trolli and American Black Forest.
2000-present
In October 2003, Hans Riegel Junior announced that one of his nephews, Hans-Jürgen Riegel (* 1956), would be his successor. He managed the company in France until 2005, but then fell out with his uncle and left the company. Co-owner Paul Riegel died unexpectedly on the night of 3 August 2009.
After the relationship with his nephew broke down, Hans Riegel decided to leave the question of succession open. This led to a conflict between the Haribo family tribes, as Paul Riegel's sons pursued a complaint to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry that had been initiated by their father in the summer of 2008 to clarify the legal issues. After their temporary suspension, an overall amicable solution was finally developed and presented in 2010.
As of 2013, Haribo operated 16 factories which produce over 100 million gummy bears per day. Hans Riegel died during recovery following the removal of a brain tumour on 15 October 2013. His position was filled by the Hans Riegel Foundation, which was created in 1987 and is now headed by Reinhard Schneider, authorized representative and also a long-time employee of Hans Riegel.
In 2015, Haribo of America moved to Chicago and established their headquarters in Rosemont, Illinois.
Haribo-Holding GmbH & Co. KG was then re-established. The Paul Riegel Family Holding and the Hans Riegel Holding, which were newly founded for this occasion, each have a half stake. At the same time, two intermediate holding companies were created below the new parent company to bundle the German business on the one hand and the international business on the other. Hans-Guido (* ~1966), Paul Riegel's son from his first marriage, became, like his father, managing director for production and technology alongside his uncle Hans, who continued to look after marketing and sales. Hans-Arndt (* ~1968), Paul Riegel's son from his second marriage, took over the chairmanship of a new four-member supervisory board. Long-time employee Andreas Nickenig (* ~1968), who was considered Hans Riegel's foster son and got along well with Paul's sons of the same age, also had a strong role in managing the foreign business.
The company headquarters remained in the Kessenich district of Bonn until, in May 2018, it was relocated to the municipality of Grafschaft in Rhineland-Palatinate. Bonn continues to be a production location. Public speculation about the company's plans to relocate the Bonn location with its 1,300 employees had been going on since 2005 because expansion was no longer possible there. The Rhineland-Palatinate town of Gelsdorf (community of Grafschaft) and its North Rhine-Westphalian neighboring town of Rheinbach were discussed at the time as new locations.
From Wikipedia’s article on Haribo, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5