Haribo plans second UK sweet factory with 300 jobs
The German firm is due to open its new site at Normanton near Leeds next year and has advertised for staff “to begin training with us in preparation for the installation work that will be the first part of the roll-out of the new site”.
It says it plans to have a “blended team of current Haribo employees as well as new recruits” at the new site.
The company bought the 46 acre site in Normanton, West Yorkshire for £6M last year to build a new 46,452m2 distribution and production centre.
Construction companies are understood to be tendering for the contract for the build. A company spokeswoman refused to give any further details of timescales for the project and whether it would be ready on schedule.
Construction companies
Haribo employs about 500 people at its existing site in Pontefract. It is planning to take on nearly 300 extra staff in Leeds.
The company was given a grant from the Regional Development Agency in April 2011 towards funding the new factory.
Haribo, a family-owned German company founded in 1920, now has 16 factories around the world. It has a turnover of more than £1bn and its sweets are available in more than 100 countries.
Dunhills in Pontefract
The firm came to the UK in 1972 after buying a stake in confectioner Dunhills in Pontefract. It then bought Dunhills outright in 1994.
Earlier this month, Haribo was fined £1.9M (€2.4M euros) by Germany's anti-trust body for improperly swapping sales information with three of its rivals in Germany.
The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) said sales staff regularly met informally in 2006–2007 to exchange details on negotiations and discounts with retailers.
FCO head Andreas Mundt said in the statement: "Certain types of information exchange between competitors are inadmissible under competition law.
“Competition is impaired by such practices, even if they are not classical hardcore agreements about prices, supply areas, customers or quotas."
Haribo Facts
- 'Haribo makes children happy – and adults too,' Company slogan.
- Makes world-famous Gummi-bear sweets.
- Acquired confectioner Dunhills outright in 1994.
- £1bn turnover.
