The History of HARIBO Dunhills (Pontefract)

New Recipes

HARIBO, the world's biggest manufacturer of fruit gums and liquorice products, entered the UK market in 1972, when it acquired a majority stake in the English firm Dunhills (Pontefract).

Dunhills' great product portfolio of traditional lines was retained and the famous round liquorice Pontefract Cakes are still produced today. It is now Haribo Dunhills' most traditional product, supported by a series of other famous and popular liquorice and fruit gum sweets. Starmix®, Happy-Cola® Bottles and Kiddies Super Mix® have superseded the Pontefract Cakes popularity, but HARIBO's greatest advantage over their competitors is that the HARIBO range offers a product to suit everyone’s taste.

New Manufacturing Methods


In 1994 HARIBO acquired the remaining shares in the Dunhills firm. Since then HARIBO UK has been largely responsible for a revolution in children's confectionery.

Whilst ensuring that the traditions of Dunhills were maintained, HARIBO introduced their own production and packaging methods to the company. New recipes and manufacturing methods helped to improve product quality. HARIBO brought new recipes, as well as gelatine manufacturing technology from Germany, which greatly improved the product quality. Furthermore, the Company pioneered the use of PVC drums in the UK and more recently has switched to reusable PP drums. HARIBO has also developed its pre-packed lines. Investment in bagged confectionery has resulted in Starmix® becoming a massive £ 30 million brand.


 
These changes helped HARIBO to achieve amazing growth, placing the company in the position of market leader with sales of 550 tons a week and a turnover of £ 80 million.

Before HARIBO introduced their new ideas and began to increase their focus on the English market, the entire gums and jelly market seemed to be lacking innovation and was in need of a shake-up. HARIBO decided to focus their efforts on developing the appeal of other gums and jellies amongst children, launching novelty gum and jelly shapes in drums to be sold as single pieces and introducing a range of HARIBO branded bag "mixes" containing a selection of novelty shapes.