Perhaps I should stop eating Cadbury's chocolate

[Mrs Pingu]

I forgot about that, does that mean that G&B's will soon start to taste like shit too?

Cadbury has owned Wedel for over ten years and they still have completely distinct tastes, so I don't think you need to worry about that. In fact, I would imagine the market for G&B is so much UK-based that it might not even be worth their while to shift production of that.

Sorry, I was referring to the fact that G&B/Cadbury now owned by the people who make Hersheys  not that anything will be produced in Poland.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Raisin & biscuit Yorkies were the best ones.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I forgot about that, does that mean that G&B's will soon start to taste like shit too?

Cadbury has owned Wedel for over ten years and they still have completely distinct tastes, so I don't think you need to worry about that. In fact, I would imagine the market for G&B is so much UK-based that it might not even be worth their while to shift production of that.

Sorry, I was referring to the fact that G&B/Cadbury now owned by the people who make Hersheys  not that anything will be produced in Poland.

I don't think that's right, Mrs Pingu. Hershey's tried to buy Cadbury's some  time recently but eventually Kraft snapped them up. So if Cadbury had previously bought G&B, I presume G&B must now be a Kraft brand, unless they were specifically excluded somehow.

[Clandy]

Nestle isn't Kraft, which is a good thing as I prefer white chocolate, and a kingsize Milky Bar is still delicious! (and only 550kcal per bar)

[clarion]

Nestle is worse!

Oh - and was anyone else impressed by the chutzpah with which the chap who sold off Cadburys for asset-stripping got a knighthood in the New Years Honours?  For services to business, ISTR (I admit the red mist made it difficult to read the exact words).

[Clandy]

Nestle is worse!

No one else makes Milky Bar.

[Andrew Br]

I was surprised to learn that G&B's chcocolate is made in Italy (I originally thought that it was made in France).
I wonder how long it will take before Kraft decide to take the manufacture "in-house".

[Morrisette]

Our cleaning lady gave us a box of Wedel on return from her last journey. Dearly Beloved pointed out its Cadbury's provenance. Nice chocolate.
Even Terry's Chocolate Oranges are Kraft now.

 

I noticed that - got a box of those segment things for a mate of mine. THEY HAVE GOT RID OF THE DARK CHOCOLATE SEGMENT!!!!!!! Leave it alone, you....you....Americans!!

[pcolbeck]

According to my friend that works for Nestle in York there are very few places in the UK that actually make chocolate anymore. Most of them buy it in from one of a couple of manufacturers (to their own specification obviously). Nestle do still make their own but sometimes ship it between factories in tankers.

[hellymedic]

Our cleaning lady gave us a box of Wedel on return from her last journey. Dearly Beloved pointed out its Cadbury's provenance. Nice chocolate.
Even Terry's Chocolate Oranges are Kraft now.

 

I noticed that - got a box of those segment things for a mate of mine. THEY HAVE GOT RID OF THE DARK CHOCOLATE SEGMENT!!!!!!! Leave it alone, you....you....Americans!!

Yebbut you can buy a dark chocolate orange.
And ones with popping candy.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Nestle is worse!

No one else makes Milky Bar.

 

[hellymedic]

Nestle is worse!

No one else makes Milky Bar.

Nestlé is still worse.
Baby milk abuses still occur.

Other chocolate producers make white chocolate. Some are arguably better than Milky Bar.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Nestle is worse!

Are you talking taste, ethics, health... ? I presume you're referring to the baby milk scandals - and probably others. But looking at their wider ranges, Nestle have corn flakes, Kraft have Dairylea triangles - it's not much of a choice but I prefer corn flakes!

Oh - and was anyone else impressed by the chutzpah with which the chap who sold off Cadburys for asset-stripping got a knighthood in the New Years Honours?  For services to business, ISTR (I admit the red mist made it difficult to read the exact words).

Hadn't heard about that. A bit rich. But then, as was pointed out on a previous thread about selling off Cadbury's, once you've made it a plc, you've effectively accepted the possibility of it being bought by someone. So those Quaker ethics which established the company - and Fry's, who originally owned the Keynesham factory now to be closed (and Rowntree, long gone) - had been abandoned already, even if Bourneville is still a dry district.

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh I thought Hershey's was part of Kraft. My bad.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think Mars is part of Kraft, though.

[hellymedic]

I think Mars is part of Kraft, though.

I don't think they are.

[Cudzoziemiec]

The best way to find out is to buy one and look on the wrapper!

Actually I find them rather too sweet nowadays. Used to eat lots of them.

[hellymedic]

I did not buy one.
I looked online and saw no Kraft reference anywhere.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Wedel's website makes no reference of their ownership, but I found this on Wikipedia:

In June 2010 Kraft Foods sold Wedel to Lotte Group of Japan as part of their enforced divestment program of certain parts of the Cadbury plc which it acquired in March 2010.[6]

I hadn't realised that. And later on the page:

In 2007, as part of the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone, Cadbury-Wedel Polska started building a £100m chewing gum plant in Skarbimierz.[15] It presently produces brands such as Trident, Stimorol, V6 and Hollywood. The company also acquired rights to an additional 60 acres (0.24 km2) plot which in 2009 it started to develop as a new chocolate facility, which would take over production of brands previously made at the Somerdale Factory in Keynsham, Bristol from 2011. In 2008, Cadbury received the accolade of “Most Significant Investor in Poland” from the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency.[14]

In March 2010 Kraft foods acquired Cadbury plc. The European Commission insisted that Wedel be sold in order for the takeover to go ahead as a combined Kraft/Cadbury-Wedel would have too large a share of the Polish confectionery market.[17] To satisfy this demand Wedel was sold to Lotte of Japan in June 2010. It is Lotte's first investment in Europe although they are the 3rd largest chewing gum maker in the world and are a large player in the Asian confectionery market.[18] Kraft Foods have kept the rights to the Cadbury, Halls and other brands along with 2 plants manufacturing Cadbury products in Skarbimierz.

I had assumed Cadbury production was being moved on Kraft's decision and to Warsaw. It seems, if Wikipedia is to be believed, that Cadbury themselves are the "villains" (from the Keynesham PoV) here.

[Arch]

I haven't seen the advert but I did notice the slogan on the wrappers. It did strike me as a little 'unreconstructed'. But then way back in the 70s they used to advertise it with scenes of big manly truck drivers. Remember those ads? So it's just taking an old trend and putting it, 21st century style 'in ya face'.

Yes, I am old enough....

For many years, the Yorkie Easter egg came in a box shaped like a truck - which was why I always requested a Yorkie egg.

I don't mind the idea that eating a Yorkie is manly - back in those days you had to have teeth of steel to bite one. I did object to them excluding all girls on that basis though.

There used to be a big advert by the track outside York Railway station, with the words "Welcome to" over a picture of a Yorkie, with the wrapper peeled back so that it only said York....

[Arch]

According to my friend that works for Nestle in York there are very few places in the UK that actually make chocolate anymore. Most of them buy it in from one of a couple of manufacturers (to their own specification obviously). Nestle do still make their own but sometimes ship it between factories in tankers.

One of the cycle couriers told me once about the time there was a tanker leak on the road near the Nestle factory. They cleaned it up, but everytime it rained, that bit of road smelt of chocolate...

[pcolbeck]

My friend once brought a bucket of chocolate home for the kids. They had been emptying the tankers so he just filled a clean bucket with liquid chocolate and let it set. Kept all the local kids happy for ages, gave them the bucket and some spoons and said go to it. Took them ages to chip it all out.

[Von Broad]

I bought some chocolate from Sainsburys the other day - own brand 'no added sugar' variety, so slightly intrigued, and tempted with a price reduction, I bought a couple of bars, one milk, one dark. I was really very good - especially the milk.

I scoffed both bars later in one sitting. With two cups of tea. Lovely.

That's why I can't have anything like that indoors - it just gets eaten at once.
No discipline whatsoever.

edit: my point was to wonder about the necessary/unnecessary sugar content in chocolate, because this stuff was certainly not an inferior product because of it.
[Don't ask me what reduced sugar really means in terms of chocolate, as regards quantity/numbers etc, because I haven't a clue].
Like, to what extent are we going for taste or just shameless sugar loading?

[rogerzilla]

There used to be a big advert by the track outside York Railway station, with the words "Welcome to" over a picture of a Yorkie, with the wrapper peeled back so that it only said York....

In the same vein...

http://991.com/newgallery/Billy-Bragg-Sexuality-64378.jpg

[Cudzoziemiec]

That's just uncovering the true nature of the place, isn't it? Or so Bobb would have us believe!