Early History of Cadbury chocolate

John Cadbury started Cadbury Limited in 1831. He first opened a grocery store in Birmingham in 1824 before selling chocolate and cocoa beverages in 1831.  In 1861, George Cadbury and his brother Richard inherited the company from their parents with only 12 employees and built it into one of the world’s largest.

An important turning point for the company occurred in 1866, when it introduced a process for pressing the cocoa butter from the coca bean.

The addition of cocoa presses at Cadbury produced a reduced fat cocoa powder that the company named Cocoa Essence, which became an immediate success. The process was considered a trade secret.

By 1879 the firm had grown so successful that George Cadbury built what came to be known as the ‘factory in a garden’ on a parklike property in Bourneville, England.

Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate was developed and launched in the early 1905 and similar products by many other manufacturers followed. It remains a favorite of UK customers to this day.

In 1916, Cadbury decided to package the products into ½ lb, rather plainly decorated boxes and soon had a runaway success on their hands from the much more popular-tasting Milk Tray.
Early History of Cadbury chocolate