Chocolate Wars: from Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry Pdf
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FREE CHOCOLATE WARS: FROM CADBURY TO KRAFT: 200 YEARS OF SWEET SUCCESS AND BITTER RIVALRY PDF Deborah Cadbury | 352 pages | 23 Jun 2011 | HarperCollins Publishers | 9780007325573 | English | London, United Kingdom Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry In the s the Cadbury family was running a shoddy business peddling a poor product nobody wanted. Solid chocolate was yet to be invented; instead, it came as a dried block, flakes of which had to be chipped off in order to make hot cocoa drinks that tasted like potato flour. Most companies added brick dust for colouring. Cadbury's inventions, such as a chocolate infused with moss, weren't exactly hits, and it didn't help that their travelling salesman was a Scot with an accent nobody could decipher. Though it's written by a distant relative of the Cadbury clan, this isn't a corporate genealogy in the heroic mode. Chocolate Wars is popular history at its best, Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry ostensible subject just the stem from which branch digressions into vital topics such as slavery, war, international politics, unionism, the welfare state and the role of Snickers bars in all of this. A gripping chapter follows the realisation in that the peace-loving Cadburys had been unwittingly sourcing cocoa beans from the stocks of ruthless slave owners. It's a turning point, when the flow of global capital has become so complex that it becomes Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry to know where one's money is going. It's also a reminder that for all their billion-dollar philanthropy, the empires of your Bill Gates and Warren Buffetts of today are likely built in part on the ill-treatment of invisible workers somewhere on the planet. It's Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry things work. If all of this sounds rather dire, it's not. This is a charmingly written and lively book that develops the big picture through the accretion of tiny detail. What makes the 19th-century chocolate makers of Britain so unusual is that they were all Quakers, a group that shunned the hierarchies and decoration of organised religion in favour of a private relationship with the divine. They were resolute pacifists who rejected all notions of class, believing that all humans are equal and that it is our duty to work for the good of our fellows. The paradox is that companies that came to rule the confectionary world were founded by people whose faith was in solid opposition to today's business models. The amassing of personal wealth is anti-Quaker, and for much of the company's history the Cadburys, along with fellow chocolatiers from the Rowntree and Fry families, poured most of their profits into establishing charitable trusts and building model communities to break the cycle of poverty. It may seem quaint to contemplate companies led by old-fashioned religious principles, but Chocolate Wars gently makes apparent that corporatism is a religion too, and one with a much murkier set of morals. Throughout its history Cadbury had its rivals. The Frys and Rowntrees were oddly co-operative competitors, seeking to outsell each other but also lending a hand when times were tough. Across the Atlantic, wild and reckless Milton Hershey and cunning Forrest Mars both proved more potent threats, while Nestle is always a slightly sinister presence on the continent. When the death blow hits Cadbury, however, it's not from any of these competitors but from multinational hydra Kraft, which comes to represent everything the Cadburys of the s abhorred. One of the key tenets of the Quakers was to avoid debt, since an inability to honour your commitments could cause terrible misfortune for those you owe. A week after the hostile takeover, a factory had been closed and workers laid off. To the Cadburys of the s, for whom "wealth creation was for the benefit of the workers, the local community and society at large", the sweets they toiled for have most definitely soured. Chocolate Wars - From Cadbury to Kraft: years of sweet success and bitter rivalry. The Sydney Morning Herald. License this article. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury. With a cast of characters that wouldn't be out of place in a Victorian novel, Chocolate Wars tells the story of the great chocolatier dynasties, through the prism of the Cadburys. Chocolate was consumed unrefined and unprocessed as a rather bitter, fatty drink for the wealthy elite until the late 19th century, when the Swiss discovered a way to blend it with milk and unlea With a cast of characters that wouldn't be out of place in a Victorian novel, Chocolate Wars tells the story of the great chocolatier dynasties, through the prism of the Cadburys. Chocolate was consumed unrefined and unprocessed as a rather bitter, fatty drink for the wealthy elite until the late 19th century, when the Swiss discovered a way to blend it with milk and unleashed a product that would conquer every market in the world. Thereafter, one of the great global business rivalries unfolded as each chocolate Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry attempted to dominate its domestic market and innovate new recipes for chocolate that would set it apart from its rivals. The contest was full of dramatic contradictions: The Cadburys were austere Quakers who found themselves making millions from an indulgent product; Kitty Hershey could hardly have been more flamboyant yet her husband was moved by the Cadburys tradition of philanthropy. Each was a product of their unique time and place yet they shared one thing: they want to make the best chocolate in the world. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. Published October 19th by PublicAffairs first published January 1st More Details Original Title. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Chocolate Warsplease sign up. Small chocolates are providing extraordinary chocolates to those willing to pay the price. Is there an opportunity for any of these to achieve the scale of reach Cadburies had? See 1 question about Chocolate Wars…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry. Sort order. Shelves: audiobookequinox-book-challenge. With the coming of Easter in a few days, there is sure to be an abundance of chocolate around the house, at least for those who celebrate and have people with a sweet tooth. Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry would seem that no matter when someone goes, there are all forms of chocolate, placed in the most conspicuous of places. Deborah Cadbury—of the famed cocoa family—sets about not only to tell of the emergence of cocoa and choc With the coming of Easter in a few days, there is sure to be an abundance of chocolate around the house, at least for those who celebrate and have people with a sweet tooth. Deborah Cadbury—of the famed cocoa family—sets about not only to tell of the emergence of cocoa and chocolate, but how companies began to rival one another on both sides of the Atlantic, creating a war that massive food companies perpetuated with their gargantuan holdings. Interestingly enough, cocoa was a commodity that came to Europe mainly from the New World, something that raised many an eyebrow as to how it might be utilised. Even more interesting, many of the early companies dealing with this product, especially in the United Kingdom, were run entirely by Quakers the Society of Friendsas they were limited with what they could do under the strict regulations of their religious ordinances. The move from chocolate beverages to hard bars may not have been the sole propriety of Cadbury, but they found ways of making it marketable and intriguing to the general public. Cadbury gives a historical narrative of each of these, including how the clashes in the marketplace began heating things up. It was not until the American behemoth Kraft arrived that things began getting very dicey for fair market competition. As Cadbury explains, the Krafts were not ones to sit idly by, wanting to devour their European competitors with multi-billion pound takeovers, as others sought to amalgamate to prevent hostile loss of their ownership in the Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry room and with shareholders. And you thought Willy Wonka was cruel with how he treated the other children! A wonderful and eye-opening biographical piece by one who has surely seen and heard much in stories passed down from generation to generation. Deborah Cadbury tells it and keeps things going throughout this wonderful piece. This book was loosely recommended to me a while ago, though I kept it filed away until I felt I was ready to tackle the topic. My current reading challenge brought this book to light and made it an almost essential read. There are so many nuances buried into this wonderful book that I never stopped learning.