15 Sweet Facts About Cadbury Chocolate

Cadbury Dairy Milk is a popular brand. In the United States, it may be most well-known for its Easter chocolates, particularly the famous Cadbury Creme Eggs. However, the company also makes a range of other sweet treats. Some of these other tasty offerings include Cadbury Shimmer Mini Eggs, Cadbury Chocolate Bars, Cadbury Mini Snow Balls, and Cadbury Caramello bars. Even if you've had your share of Cadbury products, there could be a lot you don't yet know about this brand. 

Do you know how Cadbury got its start? Were you aware that Cadbury was the inspiration for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?" Would you like to learn more about how Cadbury played an instrumental role in getting workers time off for bank holidays? Perhaps, you'd like to know more about how the company got into a legal dispute while trying to trademark a specific color? Cadbury's history stretches back decades and is full of intriguing stories. Read on to learn 15 sweet facts about Cadbury chocolate.

It wasn't until 1897 — several decades after the company was founded — that Cadbury made its first chocolate bar. The company's initial recipe used excess cocoa butter that was left over from the production of other Cadbury products. Rather than letting these leftovers go to waste, Cadbury began using this cocoa butter to make milk chocolate bars. However, these first bars were not an immediate hit with the public. 

By 1904, one of founder John Cadbury's grandsons was pushing for a change. The son, named George Cadbury Jr., wanted the company to make a cutting-edge milk chocolate bar. George Jr. wanted to incorporate more milk to make the chocolate bars taste extra creamy. After some trial and error, the first Dairy Milk bars were released. This time, the bars quickly became popular. By the start of World War I, these new milk chocolate bars were Cadbury's number one selling product.

Cadbury's Easter chocolates are some of the company's most iconic products. This popularity didn't come out of anywhere. It turns out that Cadbury released its first Easter eggs as far back as 1875. But back then, these eggs looked a little different. For one thing, the filling was distinct. Instead of a soft interior, the inside was stuffed with dragées, little drops of chocolate coated with sugar. Also, the egg's exterior was made with dark chocolate.

By this point in the company's history, the now-popular Cadbury Creme Egg was still nearly a century away from its debut. It wasn't until 1971 that the company released what would become a customer favorite. After that, it took a few years for Cadbury Creme Eggs to achieve a more widespread level of popularity. Television advertisements played a big role in them finally taking off. Today, Cadbury reportedly makes around 500 million Creme Eggs per year. 

One of Cadbury's most popular products is its Cadbury Flake bars. The texture of these chocolate bars is unique. Instead of being soft and uniform, Flake bars are deliciously crumbly. While the Cadbury Flake's exact recipe is not public knowledge, the way this scrumptious chocolate bar came to be isn't a secret. 

The bar's invention was a happy accident. Cadbury Flake's story begins with an oven malfunction. In 1920, a machine broke down at one of Cadbury's factories. The device stopped working with several chocolates still inside of it. The chocolates were initially left alone so that they could cool down. After some time, factory workers attempted to open up the machine. Inside, they found that the chocolate had been shaped into thin, hard layers. The workers discovered that the layers could be broken into delicious flakes. Thanks to this oven breakdown, the beloved Cadbury Flake bar was born. 

Kraft Foods bought Cadbury in 2010. The $19 billion takeover deal was eagerly sought after by Kraft, which was looking to expand its portfolio. But Cadbury was more hesitant. Before agreeing to the takeover, the chocolate brand considered merging with Hershey. Merging with Hershey seemed like a better fit to some, because of the similar product lines and the hope that Cadbury would retain more control of its operations. However, the deal with Kraft eventually went through. 

Part of Kraft's motivation to take over Cadbury may have come from its plans to split itself into two different companies. One would be a snack company, and one would be a grocery company. In 2012, shortly after the Cadbury takeover wrapped up, this split occurred. The new snack division was named Mondelēz International. The grocery company was dubbed the Kraft Foods Group. Mondelēz International then became the parent company of Cadbury. Oreo, Nabisco, Trident, and other brands are also part of Mondelēz.

You may have seen the movies or read the book, but you may not know that "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was inspired by the Cadbury company. It all started with novelist Roald Dahl. When he was 13, Dahl attended a school that received free samples of Cadbury chocolate. This allowed Dahl to be a Cadbury chocolate taster while still in school. Students received these candies so that they could try them and share their thoughts with the company. Tasting these chocolates filled Dahl with images of the inside of an amazing chocolate factory. He was intrigued by the idea of grown men having a career driven by candy. 

It wouldn't be until several years later that Dahl would use these childhood fantasies to write "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." He didn't start writing it until 1960, approximately 30 years after his boarding school days. The book was first published in 1964, and would eventually inspire several famous films.

While many people primarily remember the name of a treat, others may remember what the packaging looks like. Cadbury started using a specific shade of purple, called Pantone 2685C, nearly two centuries ago. This shade was used to create its packaging. Founder John Cadbury selected the color to pay homage to Queen Victoria. In 1995, the company took steps to register a trademark on this color, hoping to prevent other companies from mimicking its packaging.

Nestle, one of Cadbury's main competitors, opposed this. It didn't think it was fair for Cadbury to trademark a color. In 2012, the U.K.'s High Court ruled on the case, siding with Cadbury. 

But the battle did not end there. Finally, the debate was decided in 2019. Unfortunately, Cadbury was on the losing side. The company was told that it was not specific enough about its choice of purple. The ruling made it legal for other brands to choose Cadbury's beloved shade of Pantone 2685C. 

If you like having bank holidays off, you should thank Cadbury. After John Cadbury's sons took over the family business, they wanted to help improve the lives of factory workers in Birmingham. Company leaders made several changes to benefit Cadbury workers. 

Cadbury added kitchens to company factories. This way, workers could make themselves lunch. Heat was also added to the dressing rooms. Cadbury even subsidized train fares for employees commuting to and from work. The chocolate company even built homes and swimming pools for certain employees. 

Cadbury was also the first company to cut the workweek to just five and a half days. This was a reduction from six days, which was standard at the time. In addition to getting Sundays off, Cadbury employees were also off on Saturday afternoons. Cadbury also started the tradition of giving employees bank holidays off, which was later picked up by other companies.