Hell Energy Drink

Hell Energy Drink (stylized as HELL) is a popular energy drink brand distributed primarily in Europe and Asia. The brand was initiated in 2006 by a privately owned company, founded in Hungary, 2004, which took the name "Hell Energy Magyarország Kft." in 2009. Within three years it became the market leader in Hungary. A major milestone for the brand's popularity was a two-year sponsorship deal with the AT&T Williams Formula 1 Team, where Hell Energy became second in the energy drink sector to enter the world of Formula 1 Racing. Hell Energy is now also a market leader in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, North Macedonia, Greece, Croatia and Serbia and is available in more than 50 countries worldwide. Hell produces the energy drink Speedstar for NORMA supermarkets. Hell Energy has headquarters in Hungary, Romania, the United Kingdom, Russia and also in Cyprus.

Hell Energy is the builder and owner of Avalon Park, a resort, spa and event center complex in Miskolctapolca, a resort belonging to Miskolc. Avalon won several awards including gold medals in three categories at the World Luxury Hotel Awards. It received the internationally recognized 5-star classification at the International Hotel Awards.

Factory
The Hell Energy factory was built in 2011 in Szikszó, Hungary. It has two can filling lines with production capacity of 2 million cans per day. There is a laboratory for the constant monitoring of the drinks' parameters. The factory has the highest food safety certificate - FSSC22000 - available in Europe. In 2012 the factory was officially voted as one of the best three factories in Europe in the 'Global and World Class Manufacturing' category at the Strategic Manufacturing Award in Düsseldorf, Germany. The plant is accompanied with a fully automatized logistic center with an area of 6000 square meters. The Hell Energy filling factory is able to manufacture 250, 330, 475, and 500 ml cans. Hell Energy has been producing for the domestic and export market since 2011 in the Szikszó bottling factory. The can filling line has an annual capacity of 600 million cans, thus it can accept assignments and outsource requests from other brands.

Ingredients
The caffeine content of a single can of Hell Energy is 80 mg/250 mL (32 mg/100 mL). This is about the same as one cup of espresso coffee.

Marketing
In 2018, Hell Energy signed Bruce Willis as their brand ambassador.

Controversy
In 2020, both a Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei as well as a Hungarian newspaper Magyar Narancs confirmed that the ethnic Hungarian Ernő Barabás is the owner of the Hell Energy Drink. On March 20 1990, during the ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș, Ernő took part in the beating of Mihăilă Cofariu, an ethnic Romanian from Ibănești. Following the beating, Cofariu remained neurologically disabled all his life. Ernő received a 10-year imprisonment sentence from the Romanian court, but he escaped by emigrating to Hungary. The Hungarian authorities denied all requests for extradition to the Romanian authorities.

As business owners, the Barabás family was included in Napi Gazdaság (Daily Economy)'s Top 100 list as early as 2013, their fortune estimated at 6.9 billion was enough for the 86th place. Forbes estimated this year at HUF 48.5 billion. Ernő Barabás' fortune, making him the 26th richest Hungarian. In 15 years, the family built a global brand in Szikszó, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county. The owners of Hell Energy Kft. are now the founder's two sons, Ernő Barabás Jr. and Zsolt Barabás. There is very little publicly available information about the family, even though it represents a significant economic force and is one of the largest employers in Hungary.The Barabás family likes to start lawsuits against the press that writes about them: they sued Forbes, because the business magazine mentioned the Barabáses in its list of the richest Hungarians, and their business was presented in a later issue. In addition, the Barabás companies have also received heavy state support in recent years: since 2008, the amount that has gone to companies connected to the Barabás in the form of non-refundable state and EU subsidies and subsidized loans could reach HUF 46.2 billion.