Cadbury
Cadbury is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International 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 other confectionery products. One of the best-known British brands, in 2013 The Daily Telegraph named Cadbury among Britain's most successful exports.
Cadbury was founded in 1824 in Birmingham, England, by John Cadbury, a Quaker who sold tea, coffee and drinking chocolate. Cadbury developed the business with his brother Benjamin, followed by his sons Richard and George. George developed the Bournville estate, a model village designed to give the company's workers improved living conditions. Dairy Milk chocolate, introduced by George Jr in 1905, used a higher proportion of milk in the recipe than rival products. By 1914, it was the company's best-selling product. Successive members of the Cadbury family have made innovations with chocolate products. Cadbury, Rowntree's and Fry's were the big three British confectionery manufacturers throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Cadbury was granted its first royal warrant from Queen Victoria in 1854. It held a royal warrant from Elizabeth II from 1955 to 2022. Cadbury merged with J. S. Fry & Sons in 1919, and Schweppes in 1969, known as Cadbury Schweppes until 2008, when the American beverage business was split as Dr Pepper Snapple Group; the rights ownership of the Schweppes brand had already differed between various countries since 2006. In 1992, Sir Adrian Cadbury, chairman of the company for 24 years, produced the Cadbury Report, a code of best practice which served as a basis for reform of corporate governance around the world. Cadbury was a constant constituent of the FTSE 100 on the London Stock Exchange from the index's 1984 inception until the company was bought by Kraft Foods Inc. in 2010.
History
1800–1900: Early history
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 1842, he started selling chocolate for eating, perhaps the first in Britain. In 1847, John Cadbury became a partner with his brother Benjamin and the company became known as "Cadbury Brothers". In 1847, Cadbury's competitor Fry's of Bristol produced the first chocolate bar. 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.
The firm's first major breakthrough occurred in 1866, when Richard and George introduced an improved cocoa into Britain. A new cocoa press developed in the Netherlands removed some of the unpalatable cocoa butter from the cocoa bean. The firm began exporting its products in the 1850s. In 1861, the company created Fancy Boxes and, in 1868, they were sold in boxes in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day. Boxes of filled chocolates quickly became associated with the holiday.
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. By 1893, Cadbury had 19 different varieties of chocolate Easter egg on sale.
In 1878, the brothers decided to build new premises in countryside from Birmingham. The move to the countryside was unprecedented in business. Better transport access for milk that was shipped inward by canal, and cocoa that was brought in by rail from London, Southampton and Liverpool docks was taken into consideration. With the development of the Birmingham West Suburban Railway along the path of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, they acquired the Bournbrook estate, comprising of countryside south of Birmingham. Located next to the Stirchley Street railway station, which itself was opposite the canal, they renamed the estate Bournville and opened the Bournville factory in 1879. In 1891, the Cadbury brothers filed a patent for a chocolate-coated biscuit.
In 1893, George Cadbury bought of land close to the works and planned, at his own expense, a model village which would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'. By 1900, the estate included 314 cottages and houses set on of land. As the Cadbury family were Quakers, there were no pubs in the estate.
In 1897, following the lead of Swiss companies, Cadbury introduced its own line of milk chocolate bars. In 1899, Cadbury was incorporated as a private limited company at the Companies House in London.
1900–1969
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, 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 stronger Bournville Cocoa line was introduced in 1906. Cadbury Dairy Milk and Bournville Cocoa were to provide the basis for the company's rapid pre-war expansion. In 1910, Cadbury sales overtook those of Fry for the first time.Cadbury's Milk Tray was first produced in 1915 and continued in production throughout the remainder of the First World War. More than 2,000 of Cadbury's male employees joined the British Armed Forces, and to support the British war effort, Cadbury provided chocolate, books and clothing to the troops. George Cadbury handed over two company-owned buildings for use as hospitals – "The Beeches" and "Fircroft", and the management of both hospitals earned the War Office's highest award. Factory girls, dubbed 'The Cadbury Angels', volunteered to do the laundry of injured soldiers recovering in the hospitals. After the war, the Bournville factory was redeveloped and mass production began in earnest. In 1918, Cadbury opened their first overseas factory in Hobart, Tasmania. A trainline was also built for easier access to Hobart. Of the 16 women who came to Tasmania to set up the factory, seven are known to have returned to the UK, two married and stayed in Tasmania, two did not marry but stayed and five left no record.
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, Creme eggs, Fruit and Nut, and Crunchie. By 1930, Cadbury was the 24th-largest British manufacturing company as measured by estimated market value of capital. Cadbury took direct control of the under-performing Fry in 1935. Dairy Milk Whole Nut arrived in 1933, and tins of Roses were introduced in 1938. Roses has become a very popular Christmas gift.
By the mid-1930s, Cadbury estimated that 90 percent 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. 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.
During the Second World War, parts of the Bournville factory were turned over to war work, producing milling machines and seats for fighter aircraft. Workers ploughed football fields to plant crops. As chocolate was regarded as an essential food, it was placed under government supervision for the entire war. The wartime rationing of chocolate ended in 1950, and normal production resumed. Cadbury subsequently invested in new factories and had an increasing demand for their products. In 1952 the Moreton factory was built.
In 1967, Cadbury acquired an Australian confectioner, MacRobertson's, beating a rival bid from Mars. As a result of the takeover, Cadbury built a 60 per cent market share in the Australian market.
Cadbury was a holder of a royal warrant issued by Queen Elizabeth II from 1955 to 2022. A warrant from King Charles III was held for a further two years, but was dropped in 2024.
Schweppes merger (1969)
Cadbury merged with drinks company Schweppes to form Cadbury Schweppes in 1969. Head of Schweppes, Lord Watkinson, became chairman, and Adrian Cadbury became deputy chairman and managing director. The benefits of the merger were to prove elusive. The merger put an end to Cadbury's close links to its Quaker founding family.In 1978, the company acquired Peter Paul, the third largest chocolate manufacturer in the United States for $58 million, which gave it a 10 per cent share of the world's largest confectionery market. The successful Wispa chocolate bar was launched in the North East of England in 1981, and nationwide in 1984. In 1982, trading profits were greater outside of Britain than in the UK for the first time.
In 1986, Cadbury Schweppes sold its Beverages and Foods division to a management buyout known as Premier Brands for £97 million. This saw the company divest itself of such brands as Typhoo Tea, Kenco, Smash and Hartley Chivers jam. It also saw Premier take the licence for production of Cadbury brand biscuits and drinking chocolate.
File:Blue plaque Richard Cadbury.jpg|right|thumb|160px|An English Heritage blue plaque commemorating one of the founder's sons Richard Cadbury was installed in Edgbaston, Birmingham in 2002.
Meanwhile, Schweppes switched its alliance in the UK from Pepsi to Coca-Cola, taking a 51 per cent stake in the joint venture Coca-Cola Schweppes. The acquisition of Canada Dry doubled its worldwide drinks market share, and it took a 30 per cent stake in Dr Pepper. As a result of these acquisitions, Cadbury Schweppes became the third largest soft drinks manufacturer in the world. In August 1988, the company sold its U.S. confectionery operations to Hershey's for $284.5 million cash plus the assumption of $30 million in debt.
In 1992, company chairman Sir Adrian Cadbury produced the Cadbury Report, a code of best practice which served as a basis for reform of corporate governance around the world. In 1993, Cadbury Schweppes acquired A&W. In 1995, Cadbury Schweppes acquired Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Companies. In 1999, Cadbury Schweppes sold its worldwide beverage businesses to The Coca-Cola Company except in North America and continental Europe for $700 million.
Snapple, Mistic and Stewart's were sold by Triarc to Cadbury Schweppes in 2000 for $1.45 billion. In October of that same year, Cadbury Schweppes purchased Royal Crown from Triarc. In 2003, Cadbury Schweppes acquired Adams, the US chewing gum operations of Pfizer Inc., for $4.2 billion, making Cadbury the world's biggest confectionery company. In 2005, Cadbury Schweppes acquired Green & Black's for £20 million.