[guide.chat] Cadsbury news here

From: "Carol O'Connor" <missbossyboots33@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "guide chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 18:43:35 -0000

Kraft opens £17m research base at Cadbury in Birmingham. 
Cadbury's chocolate research centre The research centre will develop new 
products and test consumer tastes 
Related Stories. 
A new research and development facility has been officially opened at the home 
of Cadbury in Birmingham.
Owners Kraft Foods unveiled its Global Centre of Excellence for Chocolate 
Research and Development in Bournville.
The £17m centre, opened by the science minister David Willetts, is set to 
create 54 new jobs and will feature innovation labs, a pilot plant and a 
kitchen for experimentation.
In December, it emerged that Kraft was to cut 200 jobs at three Cadbury sites.
The food giant, which bought Cadbury for £11.5bn in 2010, said the funding 
would allow Bournville to build on its heritage, develop new products and test 
consumer tastes.
Tony Bilsborough, from Cadbury, said: "When George and Richard Cadbury opened 
Bournville back in the 1870s, it wasn't simply a factory that made chocolate, 
it also invented some of the great names we know today.
"So it's wonderful to be here in 2012, celebrating innovation; research and 
development.
"We're back at the heart of what makes this company great."Bristol closure 
Professor David Bailey, from Coventry University's Business School, said: "I 
think it is important in terms of new high quality jobs.
"But more importantly, I think it's about securing the Bournville plant in the 
medium term.
CADBURY FACTS. 
1824: John Cadbury's shop was opened in Bull Street, Birmingham
1879: The factory, later named Bournville, opened four miles outside the city 
centre
1905: Dairy Milk was launched
1930: Cadbury had become the 24th largest manufacturing firm in Britain
1969: The firm merged with Schweppes
2010: A hostile takeover from Kraft was finally accepted by shareholders 
"I still have fears for the long term given the Kraft takeover and how they've 
behaved in the past with companies."
Despite planning to spend £50m on chocolate and biscuit making, the firm has 
said that 200 posts were to go in Bournville, Chirk in Wrexham, and Marlbrook 
in Herefordshire.
"We're trying to manage that through voluntary redundancy," added Mr 
Bilsborough.
The former Cadbury factory in Bristol was closed in January 2011, with the loss 
of 600 jobs.
Kraft's chocolate research centre was originally based in Munich, where the 
company developed products such as Milka and Toblerone.
[guide.chat] Cadsbury news here

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