Chocolate Companies
Learn about the invention of eating chocolate that we know and love today
Before the nineteenth century, chocolate had only ever been considered a beverage .
In 1847, chocolate was transformed into the beloved chocolate bar we know and love today.
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There were three major companies who created eating chocolate:
J.S Fry and Sons
Cadbury
Tuke's
These are all still chocolate companies today...
J.S FRY AND SONS
J.S Fry and Sons were the original creators of 'eating chocolate' in 1847. They argued the richness of chocolate was undesirable as a drink, but was more suitable as something to eat.
Fry and Son were already an established chocolate company producing drinking chocolate since 1728.
J.S Fry's Chocolate Bar
CADBURY'S
John Cadbury; (arguably the biggest and best chocolate maker in the world) founded his company in 1824, as a small tea and coffee shop in Birmingham. He soon branched out to chocolate that he produced himself; from roasting the beans to grinding them with the pestle and mortar.
Two years later, in 1826 his entire business became chocolate based, and thirty years later he expanded and built the factory and community near Bournville.
Cadbury's Chocolate Bar
Tuke's Superior Rock Cocoa (1752) and Rowntree Prize Medal Rock Coca (1862)
TUKE'S
Tuke's, later known as Rowntree was established in 1725 by the Quaker Mary Tuke and began to deal in products of the flourishing British Empire; including tea and cocoa. When her nephew William Tuke took over the company in 1752, the shop began to manufacture chocolate and produced a very successful chocolate bar called 'Tuke's Superior Rock Cocoa'.
This bar was rebranded in 1862 as 'Rowntree Prize Medal Rock Cocoa' when the company was taken over by Henry Rowntree.
The making of eating chocolate became so important to English cultural life, it was posted as an attraction at the Great Exhibition in 1851.
The production of eating chocolate was a profound and extraordinary invention and worthy of display among the greatest wonders of engineering in the world for all to see! People were amazed by the production of this new and exciting product.
Eating Chocolate at The Great Exhibition © Royal Collection Trust
'Cocoa Scandal' 1908/9
Cadbury's became involved in a controversial scandal concerning West Africa Cocoa Production.
They sued the national newspaper The Standard, for libel over the following accusations over slavery in West Africa despite their anti-slavery stance:
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Cadburys were aware of the existence of slave labour on the chocolate islands of Sao Tome for upward of six years prior to the scandal. They became aware of slave labour practices in 1901 by 'an offer of a plantation for sale … that listed as assets two hundred black labourers worth £3555'.
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This scandal was particularly controversial as Cadbury's was a Quaker company founded on Quaker ideals with close ties to the Anti-Slavery and Aborigines' Protection Societies. Cadbury also had a reputation for taking care of its workers at home, even building Bournville Village for factory employees. It seemed hypocritical of Cadbury's to be involved with the exploitation of slaves abroad whilst being praised for its work ethos at home.
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Cadbury won the case against The Standard and was awarded with One Fathering as compensation!
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In fact, all three companies sourced cocoa from Africa and were aware of the accusations of the Portuguese exploiting African workers.
Over the past 400 years, people have had a very much love-hate relationship with chocolate. Chocolate has remarkably influenced British society as has afforded access to debate and discussion, displays of sociability, and become a staple in our diet.
