Chocolate Wars

From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry

When George and Richard Cadbury took over their father’s failing chocolate works in 1861, no one could imagine the potential wrapped up in the humble cocoa bean. Brought up on austerity and a belief that on no account should the senses be indulged, ironically success eluded the young Quaker brothers until they devised irresistible confections that would prove to be the ultimate in chocolate temptation. The Victorian public marvelled at the first Easter eggs, chocolate bars and ‘Fancy Boxes’ – and also the little chocolate Eden in the heart of the Midlands where they were made. Inspired by a vision of using their chocolate works to help lift people out of poverty, the Quaker brothers created a model village at Bournville.

The chocolate wars intensified as new global rivals took on the British chocolate pioneers and in the new millennium, Cadbury would face a threat to its very survival, culminating in a multi-billion-dollar business showdown.

Featuring a dazzling cast of characters, Chocolate Wars tell the tale of a unique family and a beloved product in a history like no other.

Media

Deborah on Chocolate Wars

Deborah on Start the week with Andrew Marr

Deborah interviewed about Cadbury for Channel 5

Reviews

Irresistible. This is history brought bang up to date in the hands of a master chocolatier-storyteller. Chocolate Wars is a fascinating and often moving tale of business rivalry and suspense … The final descriptions of this brave independent firm confronting 21st century ruthlessness have the power of a thriller to shock. Juliet Nicolson  Evening Standard 11/11/10.

Engaging and scholarly, confident and compassionate, Chocolate Wars is less a family biography than an impressively thought provoking parable for our times… A vibrant history.  Kate Colquhoun The Daily Telegraph. 23/10/10 and in Gulf News.com 26/11/10

Amazingly appealing…This is a delicious book, seductive as a tray of bonbons, a Fancy Box in every way… The author has done a wonderful job conjuring up visions of the Victorian age. Carolyn See 29/10/10 Washington Post

Fascinating…Chocolate Wars presents narrative history at its most absorbing, peopled by colourful characters: the true story of the chocolate pioneers, the visions and ideals that inspired them and the mouth-watering concoctions they created… Deborah gives readers an insider look, fleshing out the stories around her family with her familiar competence as a bestselling historian and award winning documentary maker.  John Dorian International Business Times 16/10/10

For chocolate lovers and Roald Dahl fans, some heartening news: Willy Wonka’s factory – or at least something that sounds very much like it – was a real place… Though Cadbury begins with teasingly enviable childhood recollections… the story she tells is really about Quakers, and one family’s continuous struggle to reconcile religious values – pacifism, austerity, sobriety – with the indulgent nature of their product and the ruthlessly competitive capitalism of the world in which they made their fortune… Its hard not to root for these guys and the story is all the more bittersweet because we know how it ends… The New Yorker Eileen Reynolds 19/10/10

‘A book as enticing and satisfying as any box of confectionery’ Mail on Sunday

A fine pocket history of corporate confectionery… Cadbury has a knack for capturing the driven personalities who launched these [chocolate] empires  Kirkus  1/9/10

This tale of capitalist rivalry mixed with Quaker values makes for a very sweet journey. David Siegfried Booklist 1/10/10

Chocolate Wars is much more than a story of a few family businesses…The impact of innovation, war and new technology on business development are all clearly and cleverly interleaved to make this book an enlightening overview of chocolate’s evolution… Cadbury’s own background as a historian and TV documentary maker means that the book communicates in an episodic and visual style making [the] subject gripping as it flips back and forth around the world documenting parallel events in the emergence of the chocolate industry. Financial Times 13/11/10

Far from just a sweet tale of her forebears, Deborah Cadbury has pulled off a book of serious scholarship. … The story is provocative, a fine business history that puts morality beside profits. And yes, I have to say this – a delicious read. Financial Post 19/11/10

Chocolate Wars – clear, readable and richly detailed – is at least as much about Quakers as it is about chocolate… enjoyable.  Sunday Times 24/10/10

A fascinating confection. The more I read about the early Cadburys – one sister, Beatrice, was so determined not to set store by material possessions she lived, with her eight children in a tent – the more I liked them… The Observer 7/11/10

Although written by proud Cadbury kin, the narrative is balanced and fair. This is a well written and well researched look at chocolate and the Quaker business tradition that any food or history buff will enjoy. Library Journal 15/9/10

Thrilling…A compelling and highly detailed read, which affectionately charts the history of this company up to the present day… Despite the fact that you could buy 40 Dairy Milk bars for the cover price of Chocolate Wars, the latter is a much wiser purchase. Its calorie free, just as satisfying and, at 340 pages, it lasts an awful lot longer… The Scotsman 20.11.10

A spirited and engaging business history which should appeal to those food historians among the chocolate fanciers… The Good Food Revolution 17/11/10

Fascinating… What makes this book so absorbing is the incongruity of the austere Quaker movement, with its idealistic values of social justice, inspiring such a decadent sensual obsession as chocolate… Read this excellent book. Los Angeles Times  24/11/10

The inside story of the 150-year rivalry among Cadbury, Hershey, Nestlé, and Mars is a fascinating and luscious tale. Deborah Cadbury, a gifted and successful author, tells it eloquently in Chocolate Wars, drawing the reader into her epic of family and industry with clear love for her subject… The lessons of this story are worthy of our attention. For all its sweet taste, Chocolate Wars is a cautionary tale  The Philadelphia Inquirer 28/11/10

Captivating…Chocolate Wars pits idealism against capitalism, religious piety against the forces of greed and cutthroat competition. Though, like great fiction, it defies belief, it’s the true story of our favorite guilty pleasure. Cadbury’s book, like her namesake’s famous sampler, is full of surprises and delights.    The Christian Science Monitor  2.12.10

Working your way through Chocolate Wars, its impossible not to find yourself reaching for a Kit Kat, Crunchie or Milky Way…It’s all rather delicious. Better still, its good for you to. What Cadbury wants us to take away from this selection box of dates, faces and cocoa nibs is the fact that, once upon a time, capitalism had a conscience. A well-executed piece of narrative history…Guardian 29.1.11