Cadbury v Cadbury Descendent of the original family eyes Birmingham as he looks to expand his own chocolate factory
ADESCENDANT of the Cadbury dynasty is considering opening a factory in Birmingham, home of the confectionery giant founded by his ancestors.
James Cadbury, the great, great, great grandson of John Cadbury, founded London-based Love Cocoa in 2016 to make highend, organic chocolate bars in unusual flavours such as gin and tonic, early grey and avocado.
But he is now planning to take on Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury, in its own back yard.
US giant Kraft bought out the Cadbury chocolate manufacturing empire eight years ago in one of the most controversial takeovers in UK corporate history before becoming Mondelez.
Mr Cadbury, a former derivatives trader who grew up in the city and went to school in Edgbaston, said: “This potential move to Birmingham is in the business plan for three years’ time.
“Once we hit certain volume targets, we can look at opening our own factory and bringing production in house as it’s currently done by a third party in Northampton.
“We currently manufacture around 20,000 products each month but we would need to increase that to 80,000 before we can consider a move. “London is just too expensive and Birmingham would be our dream home. “I have already had a look around the different areas of the city and somewhere like the Jewellery Quarter or Digbeth would be ideal, somewhere which has a bit of industrial heritage but is still close enough to the city centre. We currently have four staff but this new factory would employ around 12. “The new base would be a micro-factor y as, in order to produce that kind of volume, you don’t need a massive building as the machines don’t take up a huge amount of space.” John Cadbury opened a shop in Birmingham in 1824 before ill health forced him to pass the business on to his two sons, Richard and George, in 1861. The pair decided to move away from the city centre so opened up a new plant in Bournville in 1879. Food giant Kraft bought out Cadbury in 2010 for £11.5 billion after which it formed spinoff company Mondelez International which now owns the Cadbury brand. In April, Mondelez International unveiled its £75 million investment into the plant in Bournville which has increased production and allowed it to bring back manufacturing of certain bars from Poland.