power_howSweetitis.htm

How would life be if it were a journey down a road lined with chocolate -- chocolate trees, chocolate fruit, chocolate road signs and chocolate homes? If you like chocolate, you’d probably make the following observation – how sweet it is!

Depending on your attitude, there are ways in life to make it sweeter. John, a young Quaker, found a way to do so when he opened a store at 93 Bull Street in Birmingham, England, in 1824. His family’s story is a great example of successful people showing great care for those who work with them.

John sold tea, coffee, hops, mustard and something else in that little store. That something else was a new sideline that he prepared himself – cocoa and drinking chocolate. John’s reputation grew over the next few years, mainly because of the superior quality of his cocoa and chocolate. The growing sales of those two items led to the expansion of John’s store to a rented warehouse in 1831. That’s when John became a manufacturer of cocoa and drinking chocolate.

It was in 1847 that John moved his business to a larger factory on Bridge Street in Birmingham, took his brother Benjamin in as a partner and they got the royal treatment. The company received a Royal Warrant as manufacturers to Queen Victoria.

John retired in 1861 and turned the business over to his two sons Richard and George. They were 25 and 21 at the time. They were hard workers and dedicated to helping the company prosper. In fact, they took a bold step in 1866 that revolutionized the British cocoa business.

In order to soak up excess cocoa butter, most cocoas of the time included additives such as potato starch or sago flour. The brothers brought from Holland a special press that was able to remove so much cocoa butter from the cocoa beans that additives were no longer needed in their cocoa. Their pure cocoa was heralded as a breakthrough drinking product.

This left a large supply of cocoa butter, with which the brothers started producing a wide variety of chocolate that could be eaten. They molded refined plain chocolate into blocks, bars and chocolate crèmes. It was in the 1870’s that the high quality of the brothers’ chocolate products broke the monopoly of the French producers in England.

By 1878 George and Richard had 200 employees. The Bridge Street factory was no longer large enough for the thriving business. It was in 1879 that they built a new factory on a 14-acre meadow on the banks of the Bourn Brook. They called the facility Bournville.

There was a good water supply at Bournville, plenty of room for growth and it adjoined a canal, through which cocoa beans were delivered by the company’s own barges. By 1890 the company had 1,200 employees.

Here’s the real reason I’m sharing this sweet story with you. These two brothers were pioneers in industrial relations and employee welfare. They set standards for many other employers. Theirs was the first company to introduce the five-day workweek and the employees were given time off for certain holidays throughout the year. They encouraged their young employees to attend night school.

They organized sporting events, provided medical and dental care, education, kitchens, heated dressing rooms and recreational gardens. In order to discuss employee issues, Employee Committees were formed. This unique company attitude was soon noticed and followed by other companies.

In an effort to become a leading chocolate confectionery, the brothers imported a master confectioner from Europe. They were soon producing exceptional chocolate-covered nougats, pistache, bonbons delices, avelines and other delights. All this along with chocolate of the finest quality.

George now became aware of the slums in which many Birmingham workers lived. Thus, in 1893, he purchased 120 acres near the factory and began building Bournville Village. He was determined to provide wage earners with affordable, quality housing. Bournville Village was comprised of 143 airy, cottage-style homes and they were open to everyone, including workers from the chocolate factory.

George formed the Bournville Village Trust in 1900 as a separate entity to the factory. The Trust then oversaw the ongoing development of the village. As an indication of the high standards set in the village, the general death and infant mortality rate in 1915 were half of those in Birmingham as a whole.

At about this time the next generation of the family became directors of the firm, which had now become a private limited company with more than 2,600 employees. There were further innovations including laboratories, advertising offices and employee education and training.

There were also many innovations in the product line throughout the Twentieth Century, including a delightful milk chocolate. There was amazing growth, along with several successful mergers. However, the most admirable part of this business story is the human touch, the extent to which this corporate family took care of the people around them. By making their lives better, they enriched the entire enterprise.

Are there people in your life whose lives you could enrich? Just keep in mind that you’ll get everything you want out of life when you help enough other people get what they want out of life.

Oh, yes, I can’t leave you without unwrapping a piece of chocolate and answering your question. John’s last name was Cadbury. Cadbury Limited is today one of the world’s largest producers of chocolate. How sweet it is!

A Sweet Daily Affirmation

My life is like a box of chocolates – I’m finding ways to make it sweeter by helping others.