Is nothing sacred? Speculation continues about the future of the venerable Cadbury’s, a sad day indeed if this great institution and philanthropic family business is sold off to an American multinational, most likely Kraft foods. The Cadbury family have been selling Cocoa based foodstuffs from Birmingham since 1824. It began as an attempt to lure people away from the demon drink and on to the less satanic Cocoa, i.e. Hot Chocolate.

Philanthropy and social responsibility was always on the agenda, as it was with most Quaker owned business of the 19^th century.  George Cadbury, Joseph Rowntree and Joseph Fry, were all of that ilk, and all founders of chocolate dynasties.  They were all also great social reformers: they engaged in “Corporate Social Responsibility” a century before the term existed.

Interestingly, George Cadbury was a principle shareholder in Ebenezer Howard’s  Garden City Pioneer company that was instrumental in creating the new towns of Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City; towns “designed for healthy living”. A novel concept at the height of the industrial revolution, when squalor and slum living was widespread. You can see obvious parallels between Cadbury’s employee town of Bourneville “a factory in a garden” and Howard’s Garden Cities.

But alas, it seems that Cadbury’s will go the way of Rowntree’s and be sold off to a faceless foreign based conglomerate. Almost two hundred years of  social and industrial enterprise history up for sale to the highest bidder, a result of globalisation.

I’ve  have eaten far too many Dairy Milk bars in my lifetime, but I had not realised that Dairy Milk bars have been on the confectioners shelves for over 100 years! Most recently they have switched Dairy Milk to Fairtrade Cocoa and sugar (not before time some may say). It would be no surprise if the new owners of Cadbury reversed that decision. Neither Kraft, Nestle or Hershey could be said to be Fairtrade friendly, judging by the lack of Fairtrade products in their existing ranges.

I think it will be a sad day for chocolate lovers, and a sad day for many hundreds of employees when Cadbury gets sold. A single global culture gets a step nearer, and an iconic brand becomes just another name in a portfolio of acquisitions by a major food company.

What if it’s Hershey that ends up buying Cadbury? Anyone who’s tried a Hershey bar will know that it’s a very bitter proposition compared to Cadbury’s. Not in the same league, Americans get a rough deal in the chocolate stakes. It’s no wonder they aren’t a nation of chocolate eaters like the British.

Maybe the next time you’re enjoying a Cadbury’s bar of something or other, spare a thought for its heritage, and mourn the fact that like so many other iconic British brands, it may soon be no more than a name printed on a wrapper, like a hundred other names owned by the same faceless corporation. How sad!

Find out a bit more about Cadbury HERE and HERE.