Cadbury, one of the most favorite brands of choice with almost 200 hundred years of experience, is best known for its outstanding performance and quality products. Delve into the captivating history of Cadbury and you will find the treasures of cocoa, drinking chocolate and milk chocolate bars mingled with exclusive advertisements throughout the success of the business, topping up with Cadbury family journey and its philanthropic activities. Join us in the journey of an inspirational brand, the iconic confectionery business known for fulfilling the needs of chocolate lovers all over the world.
John Cadbury Shop
In the year 1824, John Cadbury started his business as a sole proprietor by opening a grocer’s shop at 93 Bull Street Birmingham, England. He belonged to the family of Quakers and was vastly conscious of the pessimism of his society.
He sold drinking cocoa and started the business with the aim of combating alcoholism, which was one of the most spread evils of his times. He offered healthy chocolate drink for the replacement of alcohol.
Foundation of Cadbury Factory
Being in the industrial revolution, John Cadbury accepted the opportunity, which led him to opening a manufacturing factory in 1831 in Crooked Lane. As soon as the company started its commercial operations, John purchased a four storey warehouse nearby.
New Line of Products Introduced
With the opening of the factory, an epic chocolate journey began, a complete range of 16 different drinking chocolate was introduced by John Cadbury in 1842. As we see the menu, the chocolate drinks were having innovative titles like Churchman's Chocolate, Spanish Chocolate, Fine Brown Chocolate and other fascinating chocolate drinks.
A total of 11 varieties of cocoa were introduced altogether. Cocoa was sold in different forms of powder, flakes and nibs. Multiple cocoa products were named as Granulated Cocoa, Pearl, Iceland Moss, Homeopathic and others and intrigued the whole world with its halo.
Cadbury Brothers Emerged as a Company
John Cadbury was the man famous for his strong beliefs and the courage to move forward. In the year 1847, he joined hands with his brother Banjamin, which laid down the foundation of a company named as “Cadbury Brothers”.
Bridge Street Factory: A New Prospect
The rising demand and boom of the business with the support of latest technological tools led Cadbury Brothers to establish a new and larger factory in 1847. The Cadbury factory with the availability of better and private canal incentive was located in the Bridge Street, Birmingham.
Revolution in Chocolate Industry
The current form of chocolate bars was first introduced by Fry & Son (a Bristol Company) in 1847. Fry’s produced a chocolate bar that had major ingredients of cocoa powder and sugar. Although it was different and bitter in taste, at that time, it had created the route path for chocolate industry to move forward.
Company Got Royal Warrants of Appointment
Cadbury brothers received their first Royal Warrant for manufacturing cocoa and chocolate for Queen Elizabeth in 1854. A huge success for the company to serve the royal personages of their country and are still the Royal endorsed chocolatiers of the Royal Family.
The Cadbury Brothers
John Cadbury’s health was the major concern that influenced him to retire. He handed over the complete functionality of the business operations to his sons.
Richard and George, at the age of 25 and 21, took over the complete control of the business as per the instructions of their father. The year 1861 was a crucial stage for the Cadbury Brothers and the business was declining with every passing day.
Acceptance of Technological Advancements
In the year 1866, the company introduced modern processing techniques for higher production and better results. This was the revolving period when Cadbury launched England’s first unadulterated cocoa, “Cadbury Cocoa Essence”.
Previously, the process of extracting cocoa butter was tough and a lot of beans got wasted. George Cadbury learned about the innovative process used by Dutch manufacturer, “Coenraad Johannes van Houte”. The technique helped in getting the most out of the beans by press and squeezing it and for that it didn’t need starches. The Press’ cost was high and the Cadbury brothers weren’t in the condition of bearing any major demise, what they did not know is that their purchase was about to revolutionize the cocoa industry.
The technique helped Cadbury in production of a product that changed a small company into a multinational business, which we now witness in 21st Century. The exclusive marketing and advertisements helped Cadbury in reaching far and wide audience and becoming the product of their choice.
The First Bar of Milk Chocolate
Do you know who has created the first milk chocolate bar? It was Daniel Peter, a Swiss manufacturing company owner; he added milk to the chocolate recipe in 1875. This was not a new idea as Cadbury had already launched milk chocolate drinks between 1849 and 1875.
Daniel Peter used condensed milk in producing premium quality milk chocolate, the idea struck the Cadbury brothers and they manufactured their first milk chocolate bar in 1897 but it was not of much success.
Who Produced the First Easter Egg?
Cadbury produced its Easter Egg in the year 1875. At that time, Easter eggs were prepared with dark chocolate, later on they were filled with sugar coated chocolate named as dragees. The trend changed and Easter Eggs were decorated with marzipan flowers and chocolate piping.
An Inspirational Vision
Cadbury’s business was reaching its heights, going far and wide. There was a need for bigger factory; therefore, Cadbury Brothers wanted a bigger factory for the production. They wanted to build a peaceful place; away from city noise and pollution. The brothers were successful in finding their dream place and named it as the Bourneville factory.
Bourneville Factory
The dream of Cadbury brothers was to have a factory in a garden. George Cadbury worked closely with the architect George H. Gadd in planning and drawing the blueprint of the building.
The foundation of the Bourneville factory was laid down in the year 1879, Cadbury brothers wanted to have a secure place for their employees who can save them from the crowd and pollution and built sixteen houses for senior employees and foremen.
Further Developments to Bourneville Factory
George, taking into consideration the rising demand and increasing of employees, purchased 120 acre of land in 1893.
In order to have more houses near the factory, he joined movement of emergent Garden City. In the year 1895, Cadbury brothers went for more developments and bought 140 acres of land and built 143 cottages.
Finest Marketing
Cadbury advertisements are a remarkable example of vintage marketing. They entered the markets, developed outdoor marketing strategies and had a real plan for advertisement through posters and press.
Cadbury had taken the services of Cecil Aldin, who designed the reminiscent images for the marketing campaigns. The posters were placed in magazines and newspapers.
First Cadbury Dairy Milk
The competition was getting tough and the chocolate market was performing outstandingly, George Cadbury Junior was handed over with the responsibility of creating a milk chocolate bar with more milk than competitors in 1904.
Cadbury’s First Logo
William Cadbury assigned the duty of designing the first logo of Cadbury to Georges Auriol in 1905.
Emphasize on Purity
Cadbury struggled to enhance the purity of cocoa and introduced alkalized cocoa and manufactured Bourneville cocoa in 1906.
Product Development and Packaging
In the early 1900’s, Cadbury focused on product development to meet the market challenge and get higher market share. In 1908, Cadbury launched Bourneville chocolate. Later on in the year 1914, Cadbury indulged in business with Fry & Son and manufactured Fry’s Turkish delight, which was an established brand and worked remarkably.
Although Cadbury was producing boxes of chocolates over the years but they introduced an expensive brand created for special occasions. The actual acquisition took place in 1919 when Cadbury purchased Fry’s business. This had provided a huge opportunity to Cadbury to indulge in economies of scale and make the products available all around the world.
The packaging of Cadbury went exclusive in the year 1920 as its theme changed to purple and golden.
Script Logo
Company’s script logo first appeared in 1921, which was constructed on William Cadbury’s signature. This was the major identity until 1952. The ‘glass and a half symbol’ and was used in television advertisements and on packages.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Cadbury became England’s most credible brand, King George VI, along with Queen Elizabeth, visited the Bourneville factory in 1939. At that time, almost 10,000 workers welcomed the Royal couple wholeheartedly.
The War Effects
The Second World War was the toughest period for the company as it was the most crucial time for all the businesses due to shortage of raw material supply. The company worked hard to reinstate its business again on track. They worked on marketing and production and they were able to restore their business with increasing sales
After-War Expansion
Cadbury introduced milk tray bars consisting of eight most favorite chocolates. In 1955, Cadbury gave more importance to television ads; it launched Fudge, Lucky numbers, Skippy, AZTEC bar and Toffee buttons to increase their product line.
Mergers and Demergers
Cadbury merged with its counterpart SCHWEPPES in 1969. The company had added the following line of products in 1970s and 80s; Fruit & Nut, Curly Wurly, Old Jamaica, Crème Egg, Wispa, Boost Coconut, Twirl and Inspirations.
In 2003, Cadbury SCHWEPPES bought Adam’s brands in their portfolio. This acquisition helped Cadbury in becoming the world’s chief confectionery company. The journey of Cadbury and SCHWEPPES didn’t stand longer, the focus of both the confectioners was different that led to the demerger in 2008.
Cadbury World Begins
The company planned to attract visitors and made a proper channel of tour arrangements. Cadbury World was introduced in 1990. It cost the company £6 million for constructing Cadbury World at Bourneville factory. The first year of the program attracted 350,000 visitors.
Cocoa Partnership Propelled
Cadbury had taken the great step for widening the cocoa farms, they launched Cadbury Cocoa Partnership in which the main motive of the company was to support cocoa farms in cocoa farming countries. Ghana, Caribbean, India and Indonesia had been selected for the purpose and budget of £45 million budget had been allocated for the cause.
Fair-Trade Implementation
In the year 2009, the company became a part of fair-trade, a social movement, to help producers in developing countries in better trading conditions. This would also lead them to promote sustainability in the developing nations.
Cadbury dairy milk moved to fair-trade that helped cocoa farmers in Ghana to increase their sales by threefold. The fair-trade has allowed Ghana’s existing farmer groups to not only increase their sales but also have opened new opportunities for thousands of farmers.
Mondelēz International Acquired Cadbury
The journey of Cadbury was smooth and full of excitement, in the year 2010 Kraft Food Inc. USA acquired Cadbury. Kraft Food Inc. divided its business into two separate entities, North American grocery business into Kraft Foods Group Inc. and snacks and confectionery business into Mondelēz International. Cadbury had become the part of Mondelēz International in 2010.
The Journey Still Moves On
The Cadbury journey didn’t stop at acquisition; however, it is still functioning with the Intellectual brand name “Cadbury”. The company has started its research and development centre in Bourneville factory with an investment of £17 million.
The acquisition is expected to enhance the performance and would provide potential revenues. But both the companies are having different cultures, values and beliefs. This might go in either the positive or negative way. Currently, things are flowing in smooth way but no one knows what is next to come. Kraft Foods needs to enter the markets like India and for this it needs synergies in marketing and distribution activities. By the means of proper and well established distribution channels, Kraft Foods might get the larger audience.
Cadbury is the symbol of John Cadbury’s values, beliefs and customs. He wanted a better product to serve the society, free from all kinds of harmful raw materials. To accomplish the vision of its pioneer, Cadbury has to develop product accordingly. Each and every step needs to be taken smartly because a single wrong step can destroy a 200 year history.
Cadbury is a treat and a part of England’s traditions. The company is the symbol of prosperity and mark of identification as one of the greatest United Kingdom brands.
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