Something sweet to chew on

The new chewing-gum production plant will employ up to 500 people and is going to be the biggest food-industry investment in Poland since 1989. "I look forward to the final site selection in a couple of weeks and invite you to the grand opening in 2008," said Judith Pickering, Cadbury Schweppes investment program manager. The group is seriously considering three spots in the southwest, including Kobierzyce where the company already owns similar facilities.

The reason for Cadbury Schweppes' new investment is the impressive growth of the European chewing gum market by 6.4 percent between 2001-2004. "With the gum produced in Poland we'll be supplying French and Spanish markets that have the biggest demand, and also Switzerland, Denmark and the Benelux countries," said Peter Knauer, Cadbury Wedel's CEO.

Surprisingly, infrastructure turned out to be Poland's main competitive advantage over other countries in the region such as Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "We evaluated over 20 sites in the area. Southwest Poland has really good road infrastructure when compared to other parts of Europe," explained Pickering.

Investment incentives from the Polish government will only be revealed after the final decision on the new plant's location is made.