Kraft Foods Opens $14 Million Sugar Confectionery R&D Centre in Europe
Kraft Foods has opened a European Gum and Candy Research & Development Centre at Eysins in Switzerland. The $14m state-of-the-art facility will focus on innovation and new product development for many of Kraft Foods’ confectionery brands, including the world’s leading gum brand Trident and the world’s leading candy brand Halls, as well as other brands like Bassetts, Carambar, The Natural Confectionery Co, Trebor and V6.
Worth $23 billion annually, the global gum market has grown by almost a quarter since 2005, and is one of the fastest-growing categories within confectionery. Kraft Foods has a number of gum brands with leading positions in markets across Europe, such as Hollywood in France, Trident in Spain, Greece and Portugal, and Stimorol in Denmark and Switzerland.
The new centre will be home to a team of product and package developers and quality experts who are responsible for breakthrough gum and candy innovation, such as the new Fresh & Clean gum product which is currently launching in markets across Europe. As the European Centre for innovation and technology for gum and candy, the team based in Eysins will collaborate closely with the Kraft Foods Global Gum & Candy Centre of Excellence, based in New Jersey in the US, to drive innovation and new technologies that support the company’s European gum and candy business and global category growth platforms.
The Center in Eysins joins 14 other Kraft Foods R&D Centres supporting the company’s global businesses including beverages, biscuits, cheese, chocolate, coffee and gum and candy.
