Cadbury World 2013: Mixing Business with Pleasure

It’s that time of year again when the Business Studies department make the 8 hour round trip to Cadbury World, Birmingham with our Year 10 Business Studies students.

The day started at 6am with 41 very excited students expecting to see something like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Incisive questions like “ Do we have to lick the walls?” and “Can you eat the grass?” were asked.

On our arrival, the students were pleasantly surprised by the huge factory building and its surroundings. Suddenly the history we have learned in Business, of how Cadbury came to Bournville and how George Cadbury looked after his employees with nice houses and recreational areas came alive.

Our arrival at the main attraction of the factory tour increased the excitement amongst students as we started to collect bars of chocolate, which were very quickly polished off. Three bars and and two cups of melted chocolate later and one student asked “please don’t give me any more chocolate!” Others believed they could eat more!

The factory tour showed students how the chocolate is packaged ready to be sent to the comany's customers, and how the factories at Bournville, Chirk and Marlbrook work together to produce Cadbury products. Half-way through the tour came the chocolate bean ride. It was time for Mr Leet and myself to ensure students were fully prepared for the ride of their lives with questions like “Do you like the dark?” and “How long did it take you to do your hair this morning? You might get a bit wet!”

Before lunch students were given the opportunity to wonder around the largest Cadbury shop in the world where they could buy plenty of Cadbury-branded merchandise as well as chocolate. A popular item is always the massive 1kg bar of chocolate brought for friends and family.

In the afternoon, students were given a lecture about how Cadbury chose their Bournville location, why the Somerdale factory in Bristol closed and a new factory opened in Poland. They also learned about how Cadbury is now owned by Mondelez International as of October last year and how the global company is organised across the continents in which they operate.

Overall a brilliant day was had by all and the journey home was a quiet one once the sugar highs had worn off.