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A Block a Choc of History

A Block A Choc Of History In The Chocolate Industry

Just a week or so before Christmas, Bev Jordan, our senior journalist, told me she had been discussing, with her brother, the nostalgic topic of chocolates of the past. Coincidentally, a few days later, at a Christmas party for The Hills branch of National Seniors, boxes of “Cadbury’s Favourites” were sprinkled on the tables, including “ Fry’s Turkish Delight”.

This prompted me to mention to another patron at the party, that Fry’s Chocolates was the first chocolate manufacturer to create, what is now, the popular chocolate bar way back in 1847. Not only did they produce the first chocolate bar, but also the first cream-filled chocolate bar in 1853.

I was born and raised in Bristol, England, where Fry’s was first established in 1761 by Joseph Fry. The Fry family, like the other families that controlled the chocolate industry in England up to the early 20th Century, (Cadbury and Rowntree families) were Quakers. Apart from the “Turkish Delight” bar that was launched in 1914, the other product for which the company is most famous is “Fry’s Chocolate Cream” bar launched in 1866.

When I left England for Australia, aged 11, Fry’s were amongst the three largest employers in Bristol, the others being the large tobacco company of W.D. & H. O. Wills (now better known as British-American Tobacco) and the Bristol Aeroplane Company (now known as the British Aircraft Corporation and home of the Concorde supersonic aircraft).

It was in 1919 that Fry’s and Cadbury merged and the company was renamed British Cocoa and Chocolate Company with the Fry family controlling 45.44%. Fry family interests were diluted gradually as the company acquired other companies over the following years including Pascall sweets and, in Australia, “MacRobertson’s”, “Red Tulip” and “Ricci Remond”. The Australian operations were renamed Cadbury-Fry-Pascall and based at Claremont, Tasmania, later moving to Ringwood, Victoria.

Another famous chocolate brand, first launched by “Fry’s, was “Crunchie” in 1929. Fry’s Crunchie is now branded as “Cadbury Crunchie” and when I left England in the 1950s it was branded as Fry’s Crunchie. One of my many favourite chocolates from the 1950s was Fry’s 5 Boys, a milk chocolate bar. In 1847, Fry’s produced the first solid chocolate bar for widespread consumption, and in 1902 they began selling the UK’s first milk chocolate – 3 years before Cadbury’s Dairy Milk was introduced.

Fry’s branded their new product as 5 Boys Milk Chocolate, linking it in the consumer mind to the trusted 5 Boys (dark) chocolate they had already been producing for some years. The famous advert shows a young boy’s face passing through 5 expressions of ‘Desperation, Pacification, Expectation, Acclamation and Realization’ as he eats his Fry’s chocolate. The image was reproduced as a postcard and sold widely at food and industry exhibitions during the Edwardian period.

Another favourite was “Fry’s 5 Centres” which was introduced in 1934 and was similar to Fry’s Chocolate Cream in packaging and design. The five flavours produced over the years changed as tastes changed, however the bars marketed under the 5 Centres name ceased production in 1992 due to the increased costs in production.

After the Fry’s name was dropped and the company reverted from British Cocoa and Chocolate Company to Cadbury, which continued until 2010, the company was acquired by Kraft Foods of the US. By 2012 Kraft Foods combined all their chocolate and biscuit brands, including Tobler and Milka into Mondelez International whilst the dairy and other grocery brands formed a new Kraft Foods Corporation in 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Ivor Jones

Ivor Jones has been involved with the Hills to Hawkesbury Community News since 1980.  He specialises in local history and nostalgic items. He has also been involved in community radio having been Chairman of the Board, and broadcaster at Cumberland Community Radio (now known as Alive90.5).  Ivor is also a passionate community volunteer in many community groups More »

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