Manufacturer contact: Haribo GmbH & Co. KG, Dr.-Hans-und-Paul-Riegel-Straße 1, 53501 Grafschaft, Germany.

2018: the 125th birthday of the company founder Hans Riegel
Hans RiegelOn 3 April 1893, the founder of Haribo was born in Bonn.

A bag of sugar, a marble slab, a stool, a brick hearth, a copper kettle and a roller: Hans Riegel could hardly have dreamed that this start-up capital would become a world-famous company. 125 years ago, the founder of Haribo, the company known worldwide for fruit gums, was born. 29 years later, the visionary and trained candy maker invented the Goldbären - and with this golden invention paved the way for a distinctive company that is still family-owned.

After Hans Riegel had completed his apprenticeship as a candy maker and gained some professional experience, the 27-year-old took a big step and had the company Haribo entered in the commercial register as an acronym for HAns RIegel BOnn on 13 December 1920. Hans Riegel began producing his sweets in a house in the Kessenich district of Bonn - first alone, then together with his first employee, his wife Gertrud. Only two years later, he invented the ancestor of the Gold Bear, the Dancing Bear, which was initially distributed to customers by bicycle.

Hans Riegel's sweetest invention: The Haribo Gold Bears
Almost 100 years later, Haribo produces around 100 million Gold Bears per day worldwide. The Gold Bear product quality in terms of the unmistakable shape, consistency and taste characteristics has impressively established itself on the markets across national borders. The popular Gold Bears have become an international top seller and are coveted all over the world. They have been delighting consumers big and small since 1922 and bring joy to every day. The classics are available in orange, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, pineapple and apple flavours.

From backyard kitchen to world market leader
What began as a bold venture by Hans Riegel has now become an indispensable part of the world of sweets. As a traditional family business and world-renowned confectionery manufacturer, Haribo provides jobs for a total of around 7,000 employees. Among other things, the new location in Grafschaft, which offers the world's most technologically advanced production lines in the confectionery sector, ensures state-of-the-art working conditions. Nevertheless, the home production site in Bonn, which remains as a self-sufficient unit, still plays an important role for the confectionery manufacturer.

Quality - the top priority
Haribo sets very high standards for the quality of the raw materials used in its products. For this reason, all Haribo production plants worldwide were also certified at the end of 2017 in accordance with FSSC 22000 (Food Safety System Certification 22000), which enjoys a high level of acceptance in international trade and stands for the highest level of quality and safety standards along the entire production and supply chain.

"Quality" is made up of a number of individual components. On the one hand, first-class raw materials are indispensable to consistently deliver convincing quality. Secondly, it is essential to meticulously control the entire production process - and to do so at the highest technological level. Furthermore, it is particularly important to us that every single employee promotes the quality level of our products through his or her personal commitment. We always advise our trade partners on the correct storage conditions for our articles so that our goods do not suffer any loss of quality on the shelves.

In summary, we do everything we can to maintain our philosophy of "Quality Above All".