The History, Making and Influences of Gummi Bears

What child hasn't gnawed upon some form of gummi candy and marveled at its taste and texture? Anyone with a sweet tooth could technically be considered a candy connoisseur, but there's a big difference between knowing candy and knowing about candy. I can't tell you the number of times I slurped up a gummi worm as a kid, all for the joy of grossing out my stepmother, or fought with my sister for the last of my favorite flavored gummi bear-and yet, not once during my childhood did I ponder how these delightful treats were created. Now, entering my 30s, I find such shows as Food Network's Unwrapped and The Science Channel's How It's Made fascinating. My interest in these shows prodded me into investigating some historical backgrounds and production methods of items I find interesting. For my first venture, I chose to delve into the gelatinous depths of gummi history.

The original creator of the gummi bear, or Gummibär, meaning "rubber bear," was a German man named Hans Riegel. Born in 1893 in Friesdorf, a village near Bonn, Germany, to Peter and Agnes Riegel, his first exposure to candy making was as a confectioner for the candy company Kleutgen & Meier in Bonn-Bad Godesberg. In December 1920, at age 27, he decided to enter the candy market himself by starting his own candy company. Hans decided to name his company Haribo. The "HA" came from Hans, the "RI" came from Riegel, and "BO" came from Bonn. Haribo started out with a few meager items, including a single bag of sugar, a sheet of marble, an oven, a kettle and a rolling pin. With these items and some hard work, Haribo started out making hard candies. Hans married Gertrud in 1921 and she became his first coworker. Hans made the candies and Gertrud loaded them into her bicycle basket and rode to Bonn every day to deliver the candy to their customers.

Keeping up on current trends, as most good business-folk still do today, the Riegels noticed that a gelatin fruit candy was being sold by one of their competitors and the candy was rather popular. The two began to consider the possibility of producing a gelatin candy of their own. They knew they first needed a strategy in order to edge out their competitors. Eventually, their thoughts turned to the children that enjoyed their hard candy, and they mused about the kind of gelatin candy children might enjoy.

They happened upon the idea one afternoon in 1922: they would mold the fruit flavored gelatin into a dancing bear ("Tanzbär"), which later became recognized worldwide as the Haribo Goldbear. With the birth of the dancing bear, the Riegels began making a candy that eventually became a global favorite and built their family fortune. When first produced, the original dancing bear was longer and leaner than today's bears (Haribo didn't convert to the current gummi bear shape until the 1950s) and cost one "pfennig," or about one cent, for two "Tanzbärs."

The local children fell in love with the candy bears. They became so popular that Haribo grew quickly and by 1923, the Reigels decided to chance investing in a company car. That same year, the Reigel's had the first of three children, Hans Junior. The following year, they had a daughter, Anita, and in 1926 the youngest son, Paul, was born. Over the next few years, Hans experimented with various gummi shapes. By 1930, Haribo had grown large enough that they were able to employ 160 workers. They also started building the current Haribo building in Bonn. In the mid-30s, Haribo created its slogan, which literally translates into "Haribo makes children happy." When WWII began, the company had roughly 400 workers and produced over 10 tons of candy every day.

However, WWII nearly destroyed Haribo. As supplies were rationed and ingredients became harder and harder to find, candy production decreased. By the end of the war, Haribo was only able to provide constant work for handful of employees. Eventually, Haribo had to cease production completely. Hans Riegel died on March 31, 1945, and the Riegels' two sons were prisoners of war. Widowed Gertrud Riegel maintained a lone struggle to run the company during the period right after the war.

In 1946, the sons returned home and resolved to rebuild Haribo. Hans Jr. earned his Ph.D. in business science and became the creative businessman of the company. Paul assumed responsibility of production and engineering, eventually designing many of the machines used in the factory. He ensured that all of the machines ran properly. The two brothers worked diligently to rebuild the company. They were so successful in their endeavor that by 1950, Haribo employed 1000 workers and by 1957, the company took over their father's old employer, Kleutgen & Meier. In the 1960s, the Haribo slogan took on the words "and adults too." The English version of the slogan is, "Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo." Haribo has continued to grow and has assumed control of numerous competitor candy companies over the years. Today the company has production facilities located in several countries.

For many years, gummi bears were imported into the United States. Perhaps not so strangely, high school students studying the German language were among the first Americans introduced to the Haribo Goldbear, learning about the candy through class and from their German class teachers who brought samples of the "dancing bears" for students to try. Soon demand for the bears began growing in the United States.

The first American-made gummi bears were produced in 1981 by the Herman Goelitz Company (renamed Jelly Belly® Candy Company). That same year, Trolli® introduced the gummi worm, a concept originating with the idea of creating a candy for children that would slightly mortify parents. Not surprisingly, the gummi worms became one of the most popular gummi characters ever produced. Haribo initially sold its gummies through a variety of U.S. distributors, but in 1982, the company created its own distribution center in Baltimore Maryland. Because of the huge popularity of little bears in America, soon numerous other candy companies were making some variety of the Haribo "dancing bear." The exact recipe and production method of the original Haribo "dancing bears" is still unknown and kept secret. No other candy company has ever been successful at producing an exact duplicate.

So, how is gummi candy made? The first step requires an artist. Generally, the company has artists on staff. These artists, armed with a good character sketch, carve the sketch into candy sized plaster molds, which are later replicated by a machine. The reproductions go through another machine, a starch powder machine, which coats the molds with powdered starch and makes the molds into starch powder pans.

Meanwhile, at the factory, candy makers place all of the required ingredients, like gelatin, sugar, and juice to name a few, into large boilers. They heat the boilers and the contents while stirring with large paddles. Then they add the coloring agents and the flavors. Gummies are generally fruit-flavored and come in a variety of five different colors, usually red, yellow, green, clear and orange, though the flavors of each color varies by candy company. When everything has been thoroughly combined, the mixture travels through some pipes and into the production area.

In this area, the mixture is forced through nozzles and into the starch powder mold pans. The molds and their contents are allowed to set for three to five days. Then the gummies are freed from the molds and given a slight coating of beeswax to make them shiny and keep them from getting too sticky. Finally, they are packaged and shipped across the globe ready to be sold to both adults and children alike.

As American children increasingly demanded gummi bears for treats and the general American love of bears continued, a new market was investigated by Disney. 1985 marked the year Disney first ventured into the realm of TV animation. On September 14, 1985, Disney's The Adventures of the Gummi Bears premiered on NBC. The main characters of the cartoon were seven bipedal, sentient bears, a number of humans-some deeply trusted, others mortal enemies-and a group of ogres. The cartoon took place during the medieval period, and the Gummi Bears were searching for their lost heritage, rediscovering ancient lost secrets and making sure other creatures didn't discover the secrets and use them for evil. They had a special secret recipe for Gummiberry Juice which, when ingested, made them "gummy" and rubbery and enabled them to bounce in and save the day or bounce out of harm's way. The juice could be consumed by humans also and, if it was, it temporarily gave the person who drank the juice superhuman strength, which is why the Gummi Bears kept the recipe for Gummiberry Juice secret. The one limitation of Gummiberry Juice was that it only worked once a day. Children loved the cartoon series and it became so popular that it spawned a line of toys. The Adventures of the Gummi Bears was considered "cutting edge" for its time. It had a higher degree of animation quality than any other cartoon that aired at the time, including Japanese animation. It was so advanced, in fact, that it is heralded by both animators and animation historians as having contributed to the huge TV animation explosion that occurred in the mid-1980s through the 1990s. The cartoon aired for six straight seasons, having 94 episodes in 65 shows. It was the longest running Disney animated series ever created. After its initial premiere on NBC, The Adventures of the Gummi Bears was moved to its new home on ABC, where it continued to run until its finale aired on December 8, 1990, and concluded the series. Fans of the show were able to catch reruns of the cartoon on Toon Disney in the afternoon until 2001. Soon they will be able to own the first three seasons of The Adventures of the Gummi Bears on DVD; it's due for release on November 14, 2006. But cartoons weren't the only things inspired by those tasty gummi treats.

Gummi bears have influenced the medical field as well. A newly developed medical apparatus has been "dubbed" after them; one that is still undergoing clinical trial. The "gummi bear breast implant" is a silicone breast implant undergoing evaluation by the FDA. The semi-solid gel implants, which are supposed to feel and have the consistency of gummi bears, have all the benefits of traditional silicone implants without having the deterrents of rupturing and leaking. It is said also that they feel softer and more natural than saline implants. What differentiates gummi bear implants from the standard implant options is that because they are the consistency of gummi bears, if and when they are punctured or cut, the gummi implants keep their shape and won't leak. So far all patients in the clinical trials have responded with high levels of satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction has done so much for Haribo, it all can be contributed to gummi bears. Today the company is a far cry from the original two-person production team of Hans making the candy and bears and his wife delivering them to local buyers via her bicycle. It's astounding that just over 100 years since their creation, gummi bears have found a home in many hearts and have been the inspiration of both cartoons and medical products. Today's gummies are no longer limited to the shape of bears. Many candy companies are experimenting and developing new and intriguing shapes that please children, including dinosaurs, spiders, hamburgers, and many more. They are also testing out new flavors, one of which is the sour gummies. Even some of the more popular hard candy makers, like Lifesavers® and Jolly Ranchers® have "gone gummi." Despite all the gummi choices available, gummi bears and gummi worms are the most popular gummi candy and red is the favorite gummi candy color.

2006 marks the 84th birthday for the famous Haribo Goldbear. For numerous generations, the Haribo Goldbear has become the symbol for gummi candy. Haribo currently produces 80 million gummi bears per day for global distribution. The company employees 5000 employees and has annual sales which are estimated to at about a half billion dollars per year. There are 200 Haribo products on the market today. Hans and Gertrud's sons are still involved in the family business, both as directing partners, with the third generation of Riegels working within the company. Hans-Guido Riegel assists his father with all of the processes of the production phase. Since 1989, Hans-Jürgen Riegel has been in charge of the Haribo facility located in France, and Hans-Arndt Riegel works in Administration Central in Bonn, German. Considering that the Riegel family continues to work within their forefather's company to ensure continued prosperity and the huge and ongoing success of gummi bears, it would seem that Haribo and its gummi bears will continue to be in demand and can look forward to many more years of production.