The company opened the doors of its Pontefract plant and offered the lucky nine competition winners a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the delights of sweet-making for themselves.
They were taken through every aspect of the manufacturing process at the factory and saw for themselves how HARIBO favourites such as Starmix®, Tangfastics®, Kiddies Supermix® and Giant Strawbs are produced.
They were even offered the ultimate confectionery opportunity — the chance to design their very own sweet. Frankie Needs, 8, from Denbigh, Wales, proved herself the most creative confectioner and her delicious design for a new HARIBO Fruit Fly was turned into a real sweet which is now on sale at the company’s shop in Pontefract.
The team was given a sweet making tutorial from the official Wacky Sweet Professor and became part of HARIBO's Official Tasting Panel — sampling new sweets and giving their verdict. Other duties during their day included weighing and testing the jelly and foam mixtures and checking that every bag was ready for dispatch
Per Henérius, managing director of HARIBO, said: ''We know that taking control of a sweet factory is a dream for many children — so we wanted to give some the chance to do it here at HARIBO. It was a great day for the kids and everybody at the factory.
“This initiative will help to build a closer relationship with an emerging generation of confectionery lovers who are already HARIBO enthusiasts — and will be even bigger fans after having a close-up view of our operation.”
All of the nine youngsters left with a memento of their visit — a HARIBO goody bag, a year's supply of HARIBO Starmix® and one year's free membership of the
HARIBO Club.
