Our investment in the future
“Our ambitious goal: sustainable economic activity in harmony with fair cooperation and careful treatment of our environment. This is the only way we can pass on a good legacy to future generations.”
Oliver Schindler
Managing Partner
Families
In our Bonbon family, we have an average age of around 39 and, of course, many families. To ensure that no one has to choose between work and family, we offer part-time models, parental shifts and a one-week summer camp for employees' children to guarantee childcare even during vacation periods.
In our daycare center close to the company, we have worked with the German Red Cross (DRK) to adapt opening hours to shift work and thus ensure childcare.
Our annual Christmas tree cutting for employees and their families brings us all together and shows how we are getting bigger and bigger year after year.
The state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has recognized us as a family-friendly company for our commitment and wide range of services.
Diversity
Our company has a "we" culture without hierarchical thinking and "you" pressure, which promotes open and direct dialog between all employees in production and administration. This togetherness and sense of community make us strong, innovative and flexible.
Equal opportunities are a matter of course for us. And this applies regardless of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, lifestyle, sexual identity, etc.
For us, it doesn't matter where a person comes from!
We support our employees with free German courses and have trained conflict mediators who are always on hand to help in the event of disagreements.
Health
The health and well-being of our employees is very important to us. For this reason, we have created our own fitness studio with trainers and courses free of charge for all employees. In addition to the health week with a varied supporting program (with massages, back training, nutrition lectures, etc.), we also provide supportive lifting equipment in production and height-adjustable desks in the administration area, for example.
As the main sponsor of the local soccer club Aufbau Boizenburg e.V., we support soccer in the region.
Children and young people
Local commitment is an important part of Bonbonfabrik, because as a future-oriented company in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, we support our regional environment. We pay particular attention to children, young people and families. We support these through targeted projects, such as accompanying sporting activities and the non-material and financial promotion of projects and measures to improve the living conditions of children in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, particularly in Boizenburg, by supporting the "Süße Hilfe e.V." association, as well as targeted cultural projects aimed primarily at children and young people.
The "Süße Hilfe e.V." association was founded in 2014 to initiate and support projects in the region for children and young people. The focus is on promoting a healthy diet and sufficient exercise. So far, we have been able to support children and young people to take part in sports camps and provide them with new play equipment. We have also offered healthy breakfasts for the children in 2 daycare centers.
Support can be requested via funding applications. You can find more information about our association here: www.suessehilfe.org
We provide young people in our company with sound and forward-looking training.
Climate protection
We are pursuing the goal of climate neutrality with great commitment. To this end, we regularly take a close look at our greenhouse gas emissions in order to identify opportunities to further reduce them.
A comprehensive energy management system (in accordance with ISO 50001) was introduced for the candy factory's production plants (Sweet Tec and Toffee Tec) in 2015.
A major factor on the road to climate neutrality is the switch to green electricity, which we have been using since 2016. The conservation of natural resources and the reduction in the use of energy are also taken into account in modernization as well as in new processes and new investments.
A series of reduction measures (combined heat and power plant, heat recovery refrigeration system, wastewater pre-treatment, optimization of compressed air control, conversion of lighting to LED, etc.) have already led to significant savings over the past few years. In 2020, the measurement technology and monitoring system were further expanded in order to better identify further optimization potential. The system for collecting and evaluating data was further improved in 2021. Significant projects to increase energy efficiency included optimizing the running time of the combined heat and power plant and increasing the use of sewage gas from the wastewater pre-treatment plant.
Plastic reduction
Our company has a "we" culture without hierarchical thinking and "you" pressure, which promotes open and direct dialog between all employees in production and administration. This togetherness and sense of community make us strong, innovative and flexible.
Equal opportunities are a matter of course for us. And this applies regardless of age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, lifestyle, sexual identity, etc.
For us, it doesn't matter where a person comes from!
We support our employees with free German courses and have trained conflict mediators who are always on hand to help in the event of disagreements.
Animal welfare
In our responsibility for animals, we want to protect their lives and well-being as best we can.
Based on the obvious recipe, many of our sweets have always been made entirely without animal ingredients - in other words, they are vegan.
In 2020, we also launched the first items in the fruit gum product category - which is traditionally made with gelatine - with the V-Label 'vegetarian' marking. Since 2021, there has also been a whole range of vegan fruit gums in our assortment, which is constantly growing.
Protecting biodiversity
A wildflower meadow is certainly wonderful to look at, but more importantly, it can be a valuable biotope for a wide variety of animal and plant species. In particular, small animals and insects such as butterflies, wild bees and bumblebees find a home here.
Why is this so important?
Then as now, bees play a crucial role in our ecosystems. Did you know that in Europe around 150 crops and 80% of native wild plants depend on insect pollination?* A third of everything we eat depends on bee pollination. Strawberries, blueberries, pears, apples, but also cherries and peaches depend on pollination by bees. Depending on the species, vegetables are only pollinated by bees: cucumbers, pumpkins, peas and beans. But birds are also dependent on bees. Only when plants are pollinated are there enough seeds and berries for birds to feed on. Our beloved honey could also run out. Wild and honey bees play a key role in preserving biodiversity, which is why their decline has become an alarming environmental issue in recent years. The World Biodiversity Council sees a threat to humanity's food security.
We would like to do our bit to counteract this. Fortunately, we have a very large green area on our company premises. We have established over 2500 square meters of this as a wildflower meadow. First, small trees were planted and in fall 2019 and spring 2020 we started sowing special perennial seeds for wildflowers. This special seed is a colorful flowering mixture with low and tall-growing species. And our meadow is slowly turning into a bee paradise.
Quality management
The manufacture of our products complies with the currently applicable regulations regarding the production of food. Our food safety and quality management system is regularly confirmed by internal and external inspections and audits (e.g. via voluntary unannounced IFS audits).
Our manufacturing and packaging plants (Sweet Tec GmbH, Toffee Tec GmbH, Sweet Pack Tec GmbH) are certified in accordance with the International Featured Standard (IFS) Food and are checked for consistent implementation of the strict requirements in annual monitoring and recertification audits. The plants have been awarded the highest category, the "Higher Level". This award is particularly important and highly regarded in the food industry because it combines the strictest guidelines in the industry and guarantees food safety and quality at the highest level.
Energy management
As an energy-intensive industrial company, we are working hard with our sustainability and energy management team to continuously reduce energy consumption in relation to the quantity of sweets produced. Since 2015, we have had the energy management system and our energy-saving measures at our production sites (Sweet Tec GmbH and Toffee Tec GmbH) certified annually by TÜV (in accordance with the international ISO 50001 standard). Our energy policy goal is to continuously improve our energy-related performance. This includes increasing energy efficiency and reducing specific energy consumption at the Boizenburg site.
Veggie products
In our responsibility for animals, we want to protect their lives and well-being as best we can.
Based on the obvious recipe, many of our sweets have always been made entirely without animal ingredients - in other words, they are vegan.
In 2020, we also launched the first items in the fruit gum product category - which is traditionally made with gelatine - with the V-Label 'vegetarian' marking. Since 2021, there has also been a whole range of vegan fruit gums in our assortment, which is constantly growing.
Raw material standards
Many different raw materials are used in the production of our delicious confectionery. When selecting them, we pay attention to quality and origin (especially for raw materials that come from distant growing regions). With the help of certification programs, we can ensure that, for example, environmentally relevant sustainability criteria and fair working conditions are taken into account.
Our palm oil
Sweet Tec GmbH and Toffe Tec GmbH use 100% certified palm oil in their products in accordance with the "Segregated" standard of the "Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)". The companies began their membership in 2011, at that time still according to the "Mass Balance" standard, where sustainably sourced and conventional palm oil could be mixed. In 2015, the switch to 100% certified palm oil was successful. With the commitment of our companies, we want to help change markets so that certified palm oil becomes the norm.
Our cocoa & chocolate
Toffee Tec GmbH also uses cocoa and chocolate in production, e.g. to coat the toffees with a crunchy chocolate shell. The site has been sourcing UTZ-certified cocoa since 2013 and Fairtrade-certified cocoa since 2019 in accordance with the "Mass Balance" standard (depending on customer requirements). Due to the merger of UTZ with Rainforest Alliance, Toffee Tec GmbH has also been in the process of conversion since 2020. All Toffee Tec products are already labeled with the new "frog logo".
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