ABSTRACT
John Cadbury’s sons, Richard and George, took over the company when their father retired due to failing health in
. Richard and George, both in their early
s, had a difficult time keeping the company going and considered taking other professions. In
they reached a turning point. Using a cocoa bean processing technique they learned on a visit to a Van Houten factory in Holland, the brothers began marketing a new cocoa essence as “Absolutely pure-therefore best.” With the passage of the Adulteration of Foods Acts in England in
and
, Cadbury received a measure of publicity for its new, purer cocoa. An earlier bill passed in
had failed to prevent marketers from offering impure cocoas; so Cadbury cocoas, which followed a “rule of purity,” became highly sought after.
