Cadbury's Chocolate Factory, Tasmania — BrandWiki

Cadbury's Chocolate Factory, Tasmania

Overview

Cadbury's Chocolate Factory

type	Proprietary Limited Company
foundation	October 21, 1921‡R1R‡
founder	Cadbury-Fry-Pascall Ltd.‡R2R‡
location	100 Cadbury Road Claremont, Tasmania Australia
industry	Chocolate production
owner	Cadbury
parent	Mondelez International
products	Chocolate
area served	Oceania Southeast Asia India‡R3R‡ Japan Pakistan

Cadbury's Chocolate Factory, also known as Cadbury's Claremont and colloquially as Cadbury's, is a prominent Australian chocolate factory situated in Claremont, Tasmania. Producing a company-record of over 60000 tonnes of chocolate in 2021, it has earned distinction as "the largest chocolate factory in the Southern Hemisphere".[1][6][7] Established in 1921, the factory and surrounding model village estate marked Cadbury's first business expansion outside the United Kingdom. The facility is currently owned by the multinational conglomerate Mondelez International, which purchased Cadbury in 2010.

Initially set up to meet the growing demand for Cadbury products in Australia, the factory became a significant part of the Tasmanian economy. Over the years, the Claremont factory has expanded and modernised, incorporating state-of-the-art manufacturing processes. Technological advancements have reduced the workforce from 1,100 in 1960[8]

key people	Jamie Salter (Manufacturing Manager)‡R4R‡

num employees	450 (2018)‡R5R‡

website	cadbury.com.au

History

Following Cadbury's successful 1919 merger with rival chocolatiers Fry's, the British company decided to expand operations overseas. As Australia was one of the company's largest export markets, it was decided to be an appropriate location for their first factory abroad. After visiting Tasmania in January 1920, executives from Cadbury's selected the unique 246 acre[10] peninsula location at Claremont due to the state's cheap provision of hydro electricity by the Hydro Electric Commission, cool climate and the availability of high-quality fresh dairy production and supply.[11] The Cadbury family were Quakers, and the company executives believed the site at Claremont embodied the Quaker values of the company, offering a tranquil and picturesque setting for workers. With a water frontage of 5 miles,[10] the location inspired the company phrase "By mountain and sea", which the factory used on a range of promotional materials highlighting the business' interest in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.[8]

Factory construction

Commencing construction in 1920, the factory was built entirely of white ferro-concrete. Consisting of 12000 cuyd of concrete, weighing approximately 22000 tonnes, the factory was designed as six rectangular blocks, five of which containing three stories measuring 150 x. These included ancillary buildings for the warehouse and power and transformer houses, which were interconnected by covered arches on each floor.[10] Forty workers (consisting of twenty-four men and sixteen women) from the original Cadbury factory in Birmingham and Bristol in the United Kingdom relocated to Tasmania to oversee the factory construction and train newly recruited staff.[12] Cadbury's Chocolate Factory at Claremont was officially opened on 21 October 1921.[1] Between March and May 1922, Cadbury's Managing Director Dorothy Cadbury visited the factory, overseeing working conditions from both the perspective of the employee and employer. Her parents, Chairman of Directors Barrow Cadbury and Dame Geraldine Cadbury DBE, and sister Geraldine Mary Cadbury accompanied her on the visit.[13]

Factory tours

Due to the factory's long history and the general appeal of chocolate, Cadbury's Claremont was a major Tasmanian tourism attraction, recording 150,000 visitors annually until its on-site visitor centre closed in 2015.[32]

Original factory tour

From 1948, the factory conducted public tours of the facility, showcasing the manufacturing process, including the fermenting, drying, roasting, and separating of cocoa beans from their skins to create cocoa solids and cocoa butter. The tour also included an inspection of the factory's pure granite conching machines dating back to the 1950s, industrial machinery and wrapping process, ending with a taste-testing and the collection of free samples. The tours were discontinued in 2008 due to health and safety regulations adopted by the company globally and replaced with a newly built visitor centre at the site in 2010.[33]

Visitor Centre closure

During the 2013 federal election campaign, then-opposition leader Tony Abbott offered a $16 million grant to develop and upgrade the visitor centre. Once the Abbott government came into power, the parent company Mondelez stated that they had not met the criteria for the grant.[34] In spite of public outcry, the visitor centre was permanently closed on the 18 December 2015.[35]

Chocolate Experience

The Chocolate Experience at Cadbury is a proposed $150 million tourism development adjacent to the Cadbury factory site, led by developer Simon Currant in partnership with Mondelez International.[9] The project aims to transform the former visitor centre, which closed in 2016, into a visitor attraction featuring a chocolate lounge, masterclass spaces, a cocoa arboretum, and interactive exhibits designed by Tasmanian firm Cumulus Studio in collaboration with Art Processors.[36][37] Mondelez is not a funding partner, but is leasing the land and providing brand licensing for the venture.[38]

Early announcements for the proposal included a feature described as the "world's largest chocolate fountain", but this was removed from the final design.[39]

Cadbury's Estate

Based upon the model village of Cadbury's Bournville estate in Birmingham, the newly established 'Cadbury's Estate' embodied Quaker ideology, providing housing for workers, shops, sporting facilities, a school, a Friends meeting house and parkland, complete with purple benches.[19] To assist worker education and social welfare, a variety of organisations and social activities were created within the self-contained community including a youth club, girls’ club, cricket club, a floricultural society and a camera club called "Candied Camera".[8] Located north of the City of Glenorchy, the estate has views of kunanyi / Mount Wellington to the west and both the City of Clarence and Brighton local government area on the eastern shore.[11] Bound by Bilton Bay to the north and Windermere Bay to the south upon the River Derwent, the 246 acre site comprised the model village occupying 108 acre of the peninsula, the factory covering 41 acre, recreational and shore reserves consisting of 58 acre, and supporting infrastructure occupying a further 43 acre.[10]

Within the estate are various roads and buildings containing historical industry namesakes, such as Bournville Road, named after Cadbury's original worker's estate. MacRobertson's Road pays tribute to MacRobertson's, the Australian company which created Cherry Ripe, Freddo Frog and Old Gold, acquired by Cadburys in 1967.[4] Today, the Cadbury's Estate has a rich history with eighteen heritage-listed buildings located on the site, including the former Claremont Primary School.[20]

Claremont School

Constructed at a cost of £A247, the first school at Claremont opened in July 1890.[21] In 1922, land for a new school was purchased with a brick building constructed for £A1,600. With frontage along Windermere Bay, the new Claremont School was completed on the Cadbury's Estate in 1924 to facilitate factory worker's children. In 1936, a second plot was acquired and a new building constructed at a cost of £A914. The school underwent two rounds of extensions in 1941, with the first wing costing £A2,070, and a second costing £A1,297.[21] The school was closely tied to the Cadbury factory workers, including students planting eighteen trees alongside Cadbury Road leading to the factory in 1949.[22]

As part of the City of Glenorchy's Building the Education Revolution plan in 2009, the Claremont Primary School (as it was then known) was set to close following the proposal of two new primary schools facilitating the area.[23] The school closed in 2013 under the pretence it was to be developed into housing.[24]

Cadbury's Chocolate Factory, Tasmania

History

Factory construction

Factory tours

Original factory tour

Visitor Centre closure

Chocolate Experience

Production

Sustainability

Employment

Sponsorships

Access

Incidents

See also

Sources

Further reading

External links

References

Cadbury's Estate

Claremont School

Claremont School

Cadbury's station

Cadbury's station