by Malcolm Curtis
October 6, 2010 | 10:54
One of the world’s biggest producer of sweets opens a research and development centre near Geneva devoted to new kinds of chewing gum and candy. The Kraft Foods facility, the first of its kind in Switzerland, was originally developed by Cadbury - acquired earlier this year by the US giant - and aims to capitalize on the European share of a fast-growing market that for gum alone is worth 25 billion dollars a year globally.
Research and development for chewing gum?
It’s not as frivolous as it sounds, at least, by the reckoning of Kraft Foods, the world’s second-biggest food company.
The American multinational this week opened a 14-million-franc R&D centre for gum and candy in the Lake Geneva region community of Eysins, near Nyon in canton Vaud.
The centre, officially opened on Tuesday, aims to capitalize on a fast-growing industry for chewing gum, an industry that Kraft says is worth almost 23 billion dollars annually, up by a quarter since 2005.
In addition to concocting the chewing gums of the future, the new research centre will focus on innovations and technology for candy such as breath mints and throat lozenges.
“We see this as a great growth opportunity, both for our European business and globally," Chuck Davis, vice-president of research, development and quality for Kraft Foods Europe, said in a statement.
“The investment in this new R&D Center in Eysins makes good business sense,” said Davis.
He added that it allows Kraft “to further our position as the number one snacking company in Europe.”
Kraft, which recently swallowed UK-based Cadbury in February for 19.5 billion dollars, became in the process one of the world’s biggest candy companies.
It produces Trident, the world’s highest-selling brand of gum, and the Halls line of candies.
And through past acquisitions it also produces some iconic Swiss names in confectionary such as Toblerone and Suchard.
One of its popular gum brands in Switzerland is Stimorol, a product developed by Cadbury, while in France Kraft's Hollywood brand is a top seller.
British expat Stuart Rigby, innovation and product development manager with Kraft Foods Europe, said the Eysins centre will be focused on particular European tastes.
The centre, the first of its kind in Switzerland, was initially developed under Cadbury and has been two years in the making.
The Eysins facility “will be home to a team of talented, 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,” Kraft said.
With a staff of 35, the Swiss centre will work in collaboration with the company’s “global gum and candy center of excellence” in Whippany, New Jersey to support the creation of new products and packaging for the European market.
Kraft said it expected staffing to eventually increase to 60.
The centre is one of Kraft’s 15 R&D facilities around the world for beverages, cheese, chocolate, coffee, biscuits and more.
Based in Northfield, Illinois, Kraft Foods is second only to Switzerland’s Nestlé in the food industry, with annual global revenues of around 48 billion dollars and production facilities in 170 countries.
Its acquisition of Cadbury this year has led to the closure this year of that company’s European headquarters in Rolle, staffed by 90 people, after being established for just two years.
Kraft’s European headquarters in Zurich employs more than 600 people.