Cadbury talks about the development of the business end of chocolate companies, and she talks about the challenges of producing the chocolate itself.
In the beginning, companies only made cocoa. It took years of trial and error and ingenuity before they discovered how to make a palatable chocolate bar. It was fascinating to read about each company's struggle to find the best ways to produce chocolate.
It was interesting to see familiar names in chocolate and from whence they came...Rodolphe Lindt, Henri Nestle, Milton Hershey, Jean Tobler, Forrest Mars and of course George and Richard Cadbury.
While this was an interesting look at the business of chocolate making and selling, even more interesting to me was how the companies founded by Quaker families whole-heartedly believed in the ability to change the world for the better through their business.
Many of the early chocolate families were Quakers and incorporated their beliefs into their business practices. These families - the Cadburys and Frys and Rountrees in England, and Milton Hershey in the U.S. - worked tirelessly to fight poverty in their communities and developed model factories, incorporating things like natural light and space and paying a living wage. This at the same time they worked to create the most delicious chocolate confections.
Chocolate and making the world a better place...an excellent combination.
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Imagine being from one of the Chocolate families! I had no idea many were Quakers. Chocolate is often seen as indulgent or even decadent and sensuous and to have that connection is fascinating to me. I will check this out! And now I want some chocolate!
ReplyDeleteThe chocolate/Quaker connection was really interesting...they struggled with things like whether and how to advertise, since trying to get people to notice you (or your product) was not seen as practicing within Quaker precepts.
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