All this time I thought Haribo was Chinese. From their goofy name, to even more goofy commercials, the company seemed to me like they were flying without much knowledge of American culture or the English language. Well it turns out that the only thing I was correct about is that they aren’t from the United States.

Haribo is a confectionary company that is most well-known for their gummy candies. If I had to guess, I would say I have only heard of them in the last ten years or so. Little did I know that they have been around since 1920. Founded in Bonn, Germany (that’s where T-Mobile is from too) by Johannes Riegel, their original product was considerably larger than their current flagship Goldbears.

As for their goofy name, it’s actually a portmanteau of “Hans Riegel Bonn” – the founder and original location. If I were to do that, it would be ERKEHE (Eric Kelly Hershey), which sounds just as weird.

According to the company, Goldbears have a 99% brand recognition in Germany, which would be like Mickey Mouse everywhere else. Apparently they are the symbol of ‘childlike joy’, which just seems creepy to me for some reason. Also creepy: their English slogan “kids and grown-ups love it so – the happy world of Haribo”. Maybe it’s just me.

For a company I had no idea about, they do pretty well. It seems 100 million of these bear things are produced every day – that’s insane. In my defense, Haribo has only been available in the U.S. since the 80’s, though apparently no where I have lived. The first Haribo production plant in the U.S. only began construction in 2020.

As you can see from the title picture of this post, I got my hands on a bag of their “Starmix”. They taste like gummy bears, no surprise. I have to admit, they smell really good. When I looked at the back panel, I saw “Made in Germany” to my surprise, which is why I wrote this piece.