Sweet success in Kenosha County
Gummy bears and other sweet treats will soon be made in Wisconsin as HARIBO, the German-based confectionary company and maker of the popular “GoldBear” gummy candies, has selected Kenosha County as the site of its first manufacturing facility in North America.
Construction on the $242 million project in Pleasant Prairie is slated to begin in 2018 and be completed in 2020. Once finished, the facility will be among the three largest confectionary plants in the U.S. The 500,000-square-foot facility is expected to employ about 400 workers once fully operational.
WEDC is supporting the project by awarding HARIBO up to $21 million in performance-based tax credits through WEDC’s Enterprise Zone Tax Credit Program, which gives preference to areas of the state with the greatest economic need and targets projects with significant capital investment and job creation potential.
Among the largest foreign investments in Wisconsin
In terms of both the number of jobs and capital investment, this is one of the largest investments of new operations by an overseas company in Wisconsin history. Attracting HARIBO to Wisconsin aligns with WEDC’s proactive foreign direct investment strategy, which includes meeting with business executives around the world to promote the state’s assets and make a strong case about why those companies should establish new operations in Wisconsin.
(August 2017)
