2024-04-22 18:47:50
Rescue through competition? The confectionery company Viba Sweets is joining 160 of the 200 branches of the Hussel, Arko and Eilles chains.
The confectionery manufacturer Viba Sweets from Thuringia is taking over confectionery branches of the Hussel, Arko and Eilles chains. Including the franchisees, around 160 of the 200 locations of the three brands will be retained, the company announced on Friday. 600 jobs would be taken over.
The northern German Arko GmbH as a coffee retailer, Hussel GmbH as a confectionery and confectionery specialist and the Eilles specialty stores belonging to it belong to the Deutsche Confiserie Holding and filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of February. According to a report in “Wirtschaftswoche” at the time, around 1,200 employees recently worked for the three companies based in Wahlstedt, Schleswig-Holstein.
“Make shopping an experience”
As early as 2021, Arko, Hussel and the Eilles specialist stores had filed for insolvency on their own as a result of the Corona crisis and were ultimately able to save themselves. “If we succeed in making shopping in our branches an experience for customers, we are confident that our specialist stores will assert themselves on the market and remain a valuable component of attractive city centers,” explained the shareholders of Viba Sweets GmbH, Karl Heinz Einhäuser and Holger Storch, in a statement.
The takeover is scheduled to take place on May 1st of this year. According to its own information, Viba Sweets will grow from currently around 450 employees to more than 1,000. The integration takes place in economically turbulent times, it said, particularly in view of cost increases for important raw materials such as cocoa. “We are aware that the journey together will be challenging,” said the company based in Floh-Seligenthal, Thuringia. It is best known for its nougat products under the Viba and Heilemann brands.