Cadbury
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.[3] 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.[4]
This article is about the chocolate company. For other uses, see Cadbury (disambiguation).Company type
4 March 1824Birmingham, England.[1][2]
inUxbridge Business Park, Greater London, England
Dirk Van de Put (chairman and CEO)
Cadbury was founded in 1824 in Birmingham, England, by John Cadbury (1801–1889), 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.[5]
Cadbury was granted its first royal warrant from Queen Victoria in 1854. It held a royal warrant from Elizabeth II from 1955 to 2022.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8][9]
Company type
2002
Hershey (licensee)
Cadbury plc
19 July 1948
Mumbai, India
Anand Kripalu, Managing Director[134]
Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5-star, Perk, Gems, Eclairs, Oreo and Bournvita
2000
Markets[edit]
United Kingdom[edit]
The confectionery business in the UK is called Cadbury (formerly Cadbury Trebor Bassett) and, as of August 2004, had eight factories and 3,000 staff in the UK. Mondelez also sells biscuits bearing the Cadbury brand, such as Cadbury Fingers. Mondelez also owns Fry's and Maynards Bassetts (created by merging Bassett's with Maynards).[96]
Ice cream based on Cadbury products, like 99 Flake, is made under licence by Frederick's Dairies. Cadbury cakes and chocolate spread are manufactured under licence by Premier Foods, but the cakes were originally part of Cadbury Foods Ltd with factories at Blackpole in Worcester and Moreton on the Wirral, with distribution depots throughout the UK.
Other Kraft subsidiaries in the UK include Cadbury Two LLP, Cadbury UK Holdings Limited, Cadbury US Holdings Limited, Cadbury Four LLP, Cadbury Holdings Limited, and Cadbury One LLP.
According to the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, Cadbury chocolate wrappers along with Walkers crisps packets and Coca-Cola cans were the three top brands that were the most common pieces of rubbish found in UK streets in 2013.[97] In 2014, Cadbury Dairy Milk was ranked the best-selling chocolate bar in the UK.[98] A 2018 YouGov poll saw Cadbury's Chocolate Digestives ranked the second most popular biscuit in the UK after McVitie's Chocolate Digestives.[99]
Incidents[edit]
2006 salmonella scare[edit]
On 20 January 2006, Cadbury Schweppes detected a strain of the Salmonella Montevideo (SmvdX07) bacteria, affecting seven of its products.[174][175] The contamination was caused by a leaking pipe, from which waste water dripped onto a chocolate crumb production line at the company's plant in Marlbrook, Herefordshire.[176][177] It was not until around six months after the leak was detected that Cadbury Schweppes notified the Food Standards Agency, a delay which Cadbury Schweppes was unable to explain satisfactorily, and for which it was criticised.[174][178] The Food Standards Agency ordered the company to recall more than a million chocolate bars.[179] In December 2006, the company announced that the cost of dealing with the incident reached £30 million.[180]
In April 2007, Birmingham City Council announced that it would be prosecuting Cadbury Schweppes in relation to three alleged offences of breaching food safety legislation. At that time, the Health Protection Agency identified 37 people who had been infected with Salmonella Montevideo.[181][176] One of the alleged victims had to be kept on a hospital isolation ward for five days after eating a Cadbury's caramel bar.[182] An investigation that was carried by Herefordshire Council led to a further six charges being brought.[180] The company pleaded guilty to all nine charges,[183][184] and was fined one million pounds at Birmingham Crown Court — the sentencing of both cases was brought together.[185] Analysts have said the fine is not material to the group, with mitigating factors limiting the fine being that the company quickly admitted its guilt and said it had been mistaken that the infection did not pose a threat to health.[186]
2007 recalls[edit]
On 10 February 2007, Cadbury recalled some of its Easter eggs due to a labelling error. The products were produced in a factory handling nuts, potential allergens, but this was not made clear on the packaging. Cadbury said the products were "perfectly safe" for people without nut allergies to eat.[187]
On 14 September 2007, Cadbury Schweppes investigated a manufacturing error over allergy warning, recalling for the second time in two years thousands of chocolate bars. A printing mistake at Somerdale Factory resulted in the omission of tree nut allergy labels from 250g Dairy Milk Double Chocolate bars.[188]
2008 melamine contamination in China[edit]
On 29 September 2008, Cadbury withdrew all of its 11 chocolate products made in its three Beijing factories, on suspicion of contamination with melamine. The recall affected the mainland China markets, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia.[189] Products recalled included Dark Chocolate, a number of products in the 'Dairy Milk' range and Chocolate Eclairs.[190]
2014 pork traces in Malaysia[edit]
Cadbury recalled two chocolate products after it was tested positive for traces of pork DNA, namely Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond.[191] The traces were found during a periodic check for non-halal ingredients in food products by the Ministry of Health in Malaysia which on 24 May 2014 said two of three samples of the company's products may contain pork traces.[192]
On 2 June 2014, Malaysia's Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM) declared that the sample did not contain pig DNA, as claimed in earlier reports. This statement was made after new tests were conducted.
JAKIM reportedly said in a statement that it tested 11 samples of Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut, Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond and other products from the company's factory but none of them tested positive for pork. The investigation followed reports that unscheduled checks had shown that two chocolates produced by Mondelez International Inc., the parent company of Cadbury, violated Islamic law and led to a boycott of all its products in the country.[193]