At the Haribo candy museum in Uzès, stars in the eyes of all generations

The Haribo candy museum in Uzès is a world of “letting go” and indulgence. Midi Libre – Michael Esdourrubailh

Small or large. Small and large. Age no longer matters much when you enter the doors of this world of sweets and colors in abundance. It's like a dream, that of gourmands.

Okay, it's true, let's go straight to confession: we were looking for it a little (a lot even) this idea of ​​telling the story of the candy museum, proposed by Haribo, right in front of the vast white buildings of the brand in Uzès. Where Tagadas, Gradibus, Chamallows and other liquorice are manufactured, in the greatest secrecy.

It's like a child (but not only) who is suddenly thrown into a cavern with, instead of Ali Baba's treasure, all his favorite sweets as a companion. And when all you have to do is slide a token into a large glass cage to choose your favorites, it's no longer a dream, we're in the stars.

“Telling the story of the brand”

So, that's the introduction to the Haribo candy museum in the Gard city. It's a bit like a door that opens onto the infinitely… good. We owe this great initiative to Hanz Jürgen Riegel, the German founder of Haribo candy. It was he who had the idea, in the spring of 1996, to open a place dedicated to his products.

“He wanted to be able to tell the story of the brand and his family”, comments Virginie Orezzi, the marketing director of the Haribo company. “He wanted to highlight the history of these industrial brands, such as Zan, Ricqles or Maoam”, continues Marina Maurin, the museum director. The enthusiasm was such that the decision was made to expand it in 2006 and to create “a new relationship with visitors“.

300,000 visitors per year

Better yet: the museum has become a place of attachment between legendary brands and the visitor. “We tell the story of the manufacturing, where the sugar, the liquorice, the ingredients come from”. A few years later, in 2010, the place became one of the most visited places in the department, with the Pont du Gard. It has even become one of the high places of industrial tourism in Occitania, on the holiday route.

The Haribo candy museum receives no less than 300,000 visitors per year. And for good reason:“It's the only Haribo museum in Europe”, insists Virginie Orezzi. That's no small feat when you consider that the brand is present in 80 countries around the world. And “everyone has a story with the brand”. In France, it's all written down: 8 out of 10 French people eat sweets, regardless of age.

More than 1,500 references worldwide

If the manufacturing plants cannot be visited, due to industrial secrecy, the museum, which stretches over several levels, takes care of telling them. Everyone's tastes, textures (it's quite a sleight of hand), shapes, colors, etc. You should know that the Haribo brand offers more than 1,500 references throughout the world?

Create your own sweets

This is the big new feature of this summer 2024: the candy museum has launched a creative workshop. It offers, in one hour, to make gourmet creations from your favorite sweets. It is reserved for all children aged between 5 and 10. “It's about spending an educational and creative moment with our sweets,” explains Marina Maurin, the museum's director. It welcomes children every day in August. To book, simply send an email to the following address: accueil.musee@haribo.com

Not all of them are sold in France, but you can find a few while walking through the museum. In a 1h30 visit, you dive into a world that, to tell the truth, cannot be described with lucidity and… honesty. Bias obliges. You don't see a Haribo candy like a pain au chocolat at your baker's. The view is necessarily biased. Partisan.

"We are here to let go"

"We are here to let go", says Marina Maurin, with a big laugh. She knows her "home" well, she joined it a long time ago as a simple summer job. Through the different rooms, we travel through the saga of the candy signed Haribo. We discover the objects of all our saliva, of course. But not only that. We travel through history by discovering the first packaging, these boxes yellowed and aged by the passing of time and which are the witnesses of a rich history. A very old history.

A sign that the venerable house is a major player in the pleasure of our taste buds: 15 billion small candies are sold each year in France. Candy, as an anti-bad mood therapy, here is the good idea. With a star: the Tagada candy, erected as an icon. “It's the first candy made in France by Haribo”, says Virginie Orezzi. It's not the only one today.

Haribo Candy Museum, Pont des Charettes, chemin du Moulin de Bargeton, Uzès. Tel. 04 66 22 74 39. Open every day from 10am to 8pm. Prices: 12 euros adults, 10 euros children from 5 to 15 years old, free for under 5s. wwwmuseeharibo.fr I subscribe to read more