John Cadbury
Birdslip
John Cadbury was born in Birmingham, United Kingdom on the 12th of August, 1801. His father, Richard Cadbury, sold drapes and silk materials and had earned a decent living from the business. In 1824, John Cadbury opened a drinks shop next to his father's store.
John and his family were Quakers, a Christian denomination that held on to strong Christian values like not taking alcohol. This meant that John could only trade in drinks like Coffee, Tea and Chocolate. His chocolate drinks were made by grinding the Cocoa beans in a small mortar and pestle. Before long, his chocolate drink became a favourite among the locals in the community.
Owing to the growing demand for his chocolate drink, John Cadbury decided to focus on mass production. He rented a four-storey building in 1831, learnt the various processes of production, and established the Cadbury chocolate factory. In a short while, his factory became too small to meet the ever growing demand.
By 1842, the Cadbury chocolate factory was selling 11 varieties of Cocoa and 16 varieties of chocolate. Later, John's brother, Benjamin Cadbury joined him in the business and the named of the company was changed to The Cadbury Brothers.
As demand for Cadbury chocolates increased, the brothers had to move their factory to a much larger place. This new location was very close to a river canal that had four channels. This provided them with an opportunity to reach more distant consumers with their products.
Today, Cadbury is one of the top five most recognized chocolate brands in the world. It is currently owned by Mondelez International and their top 3 markets in the world are U.K, Australia and India.
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