Cadbury facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Cadbury

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Confectionery
Founded	4 March 1824; 201 years ago (1824-03-04) in Birmingham, England.
Founder	John Cadbury
Headquarters	Uxbridge Business Park, Greater London, England
Key people	Dirk Van de Put (chairman and CEO)
Brands	List of Cadbury brands
Parent	Mondelez International

Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. Cadbury is internationally headquartered in Greater London, and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide. It is known for its Dairy Milk chocolate, the Creme Egg and Roses selection box, and many other confectionery products. One of the best-known British brands, in 2013 The Daily Telegraph named Cadbury among Britain's most successful exports.

Cadbury merged with J. S. Fry & Sons in 1919, and Schweppes in 1969, known as Cadbury Schweppes until 2008.

History

Cadbury was established in 1824 by John Cadbury (far left). Two advertisements for Cadbury's cocoa in British media: (middle) piece published in The Graphic, 1885; (right): 1900 illustration by Cecil Aldin for The Illustrated London News

On 4 March 1824, John Cadbury, a Quaker, began selling tea, coffee and drinking chocolate in Bull Street in Birmingham, England. From 1831, he moved into the production of a variety of cocoa and drinking chocolates, made in a factory in Bridge Street and sold mainly to the wealthy because of the high cost of production.

In 1847, John Cadbury became a partner with his brother Benjamin and the company became known as "Cadbury Brothers". Cadbury introduced his brand of the chocolate bar in 1849, and that same year, Cadbury and Fry's chocolate bars were displayed publicly at a trade fair in Bingley Hall, Birmingham. The Cadbury brothers opened an office in London, and, in 1854, they received the royal warrant as manufacturers of chocolate and cocoa to Queen Victoria. The company went into decline in the late 1850s.

John Cadbury's sons Richard and George took over the business in 1861. At the time of the takeover, the business was in rapid decline: the number of employees had reduced from 20 to 11, and the company was losing money. By 1866, Cadbury was profitable again. The brothers had turned around the business by moving the focus from tea and coffee to chocolate, and by increasing the quality of their products.

Cadbury Factory, Bournville (pictured in 2009) is located on the south side of Birmingham, England

In 1905, Cadbury launched its Dairy Milk bar, a high quality product with a greater proportion of milk than previous chocolate bars. Developed by George's son, George Cadbury Jr (along with his research and development team), it was the first time a British company had been able to mass-produce milk chocolate. From the beginning, it had the distinctive purple wrapper. It was a great sales success, and became the company's best selling product by 1914.

The packing room at Bournville, circa 1903

Cadbury's chocolate bars (Dairy Milk back of tray), circa 1910

Cadbury Wharf, Knighton, Staffordshire. It was operated by Cadbury between 1911 and 1961, to process locally collected milk and produce "chocolate crumb" which was transported to Cadbury's in Bournville.

In 1919, Cadbury merged with Fry's, resulting in the integration of well-known brands such as Fry's Chocolate Cream and Fry's Turkish Delight. In 1921, the many small Fry's factories around Bristol were closed down, and production was consolidated at a new Somerdale Factory, outside Bristol.

Cadbury expanded its product range with Flake (1920), Creme eggs (1923), Fruit and Nut (1928), and Crunchie (1929, originally under the Fry's label). By 1930, Cadbury was the 24th-largest British manufacturing company as measured by estimated market value of capital. Dairy Milk Whole Nut arrived in 1933, and tins of Roses were introduced in 1938 (competing with Quality Street launched by Mackintosh's in 1936). Roses has become a very popular Christmas (and Mother's Day) gift.

By the mid-1930s, Cadbury estimated that 90 per cent of the British population could readily afford to buy chocolate as it was no longer considered a luxury item for the working classes. By 1936, Dairy Milk accounted for 60 per cent of the UK milk chocolate market.

The Cadbury Schweppes logo used until the demerger in 2008

An English Heritage blue plaque commemorating one of the founder's sons Richard Cadbury was installed in Edgbaston, Birmingham in 2002

Cadbury's Somerdale Factory located in Keynsham near Bristol, south west England (1921–2010)

Cadbury's sign at Somerdale

On 19 January 2010, it was announced that Cadbury and Kraft Foods had reached a deal and that Kraft would purchase Cadbury for £8.40 per share, valuing Cadbury at £11.5bn (US$18.9bn). Kraft, which issued a statement stating that the deal will create a "global confectionery leader", had to borrow £7 billion (US$11.5bn) in order to finance the takeover.

The acquisition of Cadbury faced widespread disapproval from the British public, as well as groups and organisations.

Cadbury World exhibition at the Library of Birmingham, July 2016. A tribute to Shakespeare (born 22 miles (35 km) south east of the city), the miniature Shakespeare's Globe theatre (left) and a manuscript are made from Cadbury chocolate.

On 2 February 2010, Kraft secured over 71% of Cadbury's shares thus finalising the deal.

An early Cadbury chocolate wrapping machine on display at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum

Interesting facts about Cadbury

• Cadbury manufactured their first Easter egg in 1875, creating the modern chocolate Easter egg after developing a pure cocoa butter that could be moulded into smooth shapes.
• In 1861, the company created Fancy Boxes (a decorated box of chocolates) and, in 1868, they were sold in boxes in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day.
• In 1918, Cadbury opened their first overseas factory in Hobart, Tasmania.
• Between the two world wars Cadbury sent test packages to British schoolchildren in exchange for their opinions on new products, one of whom, Roald Dahl, would later write the children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• In January 2017, Cadbury became the official snack partner of the Premier League, and sponsored the Premier League Golden Boot and Premier League Golden Glove awards.
• The Cadbury script logo is derived from the signature of William Cadbury, the founder's grandson, in 1921. It was adopted as the worldwide logo in the 1970s.
• The company adopted purple as their colour in 1905 to honour Queen Victoria who had died four years prior.
• Every year Cadbury also launches a Secret Santa campaign which features offline and online advertisements.

Operations

Head office

Cadbury's office block in Bournville

Cadbury has its head office at Cadbury House in the Uxbridge Business Park in Uxbridge, Greater London, England. The company occupies 84,000 square feet (7,800 m²) of leased space inside Building 3 of the business park, which it shares with Mondelez's UK division. After acquiring Cadbury, Kraft confirmed that the company would remain at Cadbury House.

Cadbury relocated to Uxbridge Business Park from its previous head office at 25 Berkeley Square in Mayfair, City of Westminster in 2007 as a cost-saving measure. In 1992, the company leased the space for £55 per 1 square foot (0.093 m²); by 2002 this had reached £68.75 per square foot.

Production sites

Bournville

The founder's son George Cadbury established Bournville

Located four miles (6.4 km) south of Birmingham in England, the Cadbury plant in Bournville was opened in 1879 by company founder John Cadbury's son George, whose aim was that one-tenth of the Bournville estate should be "laid out and used as parks, recreation grounds and open space." It subsequently became known as "the factory in a garden". Cadbury's dark chocolate bar, Bournville, is named after the model village, and was first sold in 1908.

Bournville employs almost 1,000 people. In 2014, Mondelez announced a £75 million investment in the site, with Cadbury stating it "reinforces Bournville's position at the heart of the British chocolate industry".

Bournville is home to Mondelez's Global Centre of Excellence for Chocolate research and development, so every new chocolate product created by Cadbury starts life at the Birmingham plant.

Milk processing plant at Cooee, Burnie, Tasmania

Former factory in Dunedin

Advertising

The signature logo as displayed at Cadbury World in Bournville, England. In 1905 the company chose purple as it was Queen Victoria's favourite colour.

1890 advertisement in the British weekly Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Products

Cadbury chocolate stall at London's Heathrow Airport

A Cadbury Wispa chocolate bar that has been split in half. These are available in the UK.

A Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel bar in its foil wrapper

A Cadbury Flake split in half. They are popularly served in ice cream in a cone ("99 Flake").

Cadbury Creme Eggs are sold between New Year's Day and Easter

Cadbury's Christmas selection box. A boxed gift of assorted bars is a staple of Christmas, a tradition that in the UK goes back over 100 years.

Major chocolate brands produced by Cadbury include the bars Dairy Milk, Crunchie, Double Decker, Caramel, Wispa, Boost, Picnic, Flake, Curly Wurly, Chomp, and Fudge; chocolate Buttons; the boxed chocolate brand Milk Tray; and the twist-wrapped chocolates Heroes which are most popular around holidays, such as Christmas and Halloween (Cadbury Goo Heads (similar to Creme Eggs) are released for Halloween). Selection boxes (containing a selection of Cadbury bars and sweets) is a staple Christmas gift of chocolate, a tradition that in Britain goes back over a century (as are Cadbury Roses since the late 1930s). Creme Eggs are only sold between New Year's Day and Easter—it is the most popular chocolate in the UK during this period, outselling its closest rival by 2 to 1.

As well as Cadbury's chocolate, the company also owns Maynards and Halls, and is associated with several types of confectionery including former Trebor and Bassett's brands or products such as Liquorice Allsorts, Jelly Babies, Flumps, Mints, Black Jack chews, Trident gum, and Softmints. Global sales of Cadbury products amounted to £491 million in the 52 weeks to 16 August 2014.

Notable product introductions include:

See also

In Spanish: Cadbury para niños

• Cadbury World
• Cadbury family
• Cadbury Athletic F.C.