PLEASANT PRAIRIE — Candymaker Haribo of America plans to hire almost 400 people at its first plant located in the U.S. - in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
Haribo CEO Rick LaBerge told our partners at the Milwaukee Business Journal that the facility will make Haribo’s Gold Bear gummi candies, to be sold across the country.
Job fairs to fill the positions will begin early next year. Hiring for senior positions has already begun.
The facility is under construction now, located west of I-94.
The company hopes the facility will be able to start testing production in the fourth quarter of 2022. By the end of 2023 they hope to be shipping candy across the nation, according to the BizJournal.
Haribo is also working with local schools to create programs that will offer jobs and experience for area students. The tradition goes back to Haribo's home country of Germany, where it often hires people right out of school, at ages young as 16 or 17.
“We provide joy and happiness to literally young and old, and it is absolutely fascinating when you see workers in France or salespeople in Japan, really all around the world, the brand just means something,” Herwig Vennekens, the managing director of marketing and sales of the Haribo Group, tells the MBJ.
