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As a child, I always dreamed of finding that prized golden ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I wanted to spend my days floating down chocolate rivers, making friends with Oompa-Loompas, riding the Wonkavator, and of course, eating my weight in the sugary stuff.
This year, I finally had my Willy Wonka moment at Tasmania’s iconic Cadbury factory – the oldest chocolate factory in Australia. Here, they produce a whopping 57,000 tonnes of chocolate per year – or more than 200 million blocks!
Located just north of Hobart, Cadbury's chocolate factory in Claremont was officially opened in 1922. Yep, that makes it much older than the Tasman Bridge or even the Sydney Opera House! Australia was the British brand’s first overseas outpost, with Tasmania chosen for its cool climate (ideal for chocolate making), affordable hydro-electric power and plentiful supply of high-quality fresh milk.
On a recent trip to Tassie, I had the chance to meet the legendary Cadbury team in Claremont – where the average tenure of its 700-strong team is 12 years – and get a behind-the-scenes look at chocolate-making magic. Spoiler: it’s a Willy Wonka dream come to life and has me even more excited for Cadbury’s new Chocolate Experience, set to open by the end of next year.
My tour guide for the day was site production manager Jamie Salter, a third-generation employee who’s been with the company for almost 40 years. If you ask me, that’s just as iconic as a Cherry Ripe.
The first thing that hit me when I entered the factory was the decadently sweet, unmistakably Cadbury smell. Everywhere I looked, chocolate was flowing, being mixed, moulded and packaged at lightning speed.
At Claremont, they make more than 200 different products, ranging from the classic Dairy Milk bar to Freddos, Flakes, Marvellous Creations and Caramilks – though only a handful are on rotation at any one time. Jamie told me it would take a fair few hours to tour the entire facility, so we focused on the production of Cadbury’s most popular bar, the Twirl, along with its brand-new Biscoff flavour.
First, cocoa from Ghana, sugar from Queensland and milk from Tasmania are combined, roasted, dried and rolled into what’s called a ‘crumb’. This is the base for every Cadbury creation, which is then conched, tempered and poured into moulds. Watching the molten chocolate gush from the pipes gave me a whole new appreciation for the term ‘liquid gold’.
Next, the bars are quickly chilled and sent zooming down conveyors to be wrapped and packed. Of course, bars with fillings or special shapes take a few extra detours, but you get the gist. There’s something so satisfying about watching the perfectly shaped chocolate bars clatter along the conveyor belt, and I could’ve spent hours following the journey from start to end.
If you’re keen to go behind the scenes at Cadbury, they’re planning to open a $150 million Chocolate Experience right next door to the historic Claremont factory site in 2027. This choccy wonderland is everything your sweet dreams are made of – think an interactive cacao forest, a build-your-own bar studio, a hands-on masterclass kitchen and a chocolate emporium (AKA free samples galore). Start counting down the days!