ug b 233 assignment

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Cadbury W orld (A )

Mark Robinson and Stuart Chambers

Case date 1981

INTRODUCTION

Cadbury's have been a renowned English manufacturer of chocolate products for

more than 100 years. Today, as Cadbury-Schweppes, the firm is a major food

products conglomerate, but one with very deep roots. Indeed, the current mission

statement of the company echoes the philosophy of John Cadbury, the committed

Quaker who founded the company in 1794. Cadbury's mission stresses 'social

responsibility' and the desire to be a good neighbour. It also explicitly sets out a

commitment to encourage the personal fulfilment of employees. Although such

corporate sentiments are not unique to Cadbury, they are rarely so deeply held.

John Cadbury saw his 'drinking cocoa' as a moral alternative to the cheap liquor

sold to the working classes in nineteenth-century industrial England.The high quality

of Cadbury's products, manufactured in the centre of Birmingham, was rewarded

by their commercial success. In 1879, the chocolate factory, by then in his sons'

control, was relocated four miles to the south in a rural setting on the River Bourn.

The Cadburys' initially purchased 15 acres for the factory, but then bought more

and more land. On this holding they developed the first 'model' village to follow a

programme of mixed development. This was an environment for all social classes,

developed as a balanced mixture of house types. By contrast, earlier 'model' villages

were massed collections of a repeated dwelling type: the artisan's cottage. The new

site was called 'Bournville' to give Cadbury products a French-sounding origin -

at that time French chocolate was considered a world leader. Since then, the products

(£1.32 billion sales in 1990) ,Ithe factory and Bournville itself have all grown. Today,

Bournville (now a pleasant suburb of Birmingham) extends to 400 hectares and

comprises 6500 dwellings, housing 20000 people.

CADBURYWORLD

A factory visit to Cadbury's at Bournville has been a highlight for children since the

1920s. Even today, many adults fondly remember their childhood tours and gift of

77



PART 2 • DESIGN

a presentation tin of chocolate. These field trips included the production areas and

Bournville village. In 1965 (when 160 000 visitors came), Cadbury decided to stop

these tours due to tighter legislation on the hygiene of food production and the

possibility of intentional contamination of chocolate by visitors. For years after,

however, Cadbury continued to be barraged by requests from educational groups

and individuals who were interested in visiting the factory.

In the face of this interest, management decided in the mid-1980s to reintroducethe popular outing to Cadbury. A number of major changes over the intervening

20 years meant that this new 'product' would be different from the old tours. First,

rationalisation at the factory had released a large area ofland for non-manufacturing

uses. Second, the production process itself had become much more automated and

enclosed since the 1960s, and was no longer likely to be of such interest to visitors.

Finally, the economic climate was more favourable to leisure businesses than had

been the case for many years. The new venture was intended to be a contemporary

'leisure experience' but also to have educational value and be guided by the spirit

. of the old tours. Itwas this combination of factors that influenced the decision to

create Cadbury World.

Inthe words of the Cadbury World promotional material, 'Cadbury World is apermanent exhibition devoted entirely to chocolate - where it came from, who first

drank this mysterious potion, when it became eating chocolate and the part that

Cadbury played in this fascinating story.'

The scheme involved building a new 'visitor centre' adjacent to the main production

plant, constructing car parks and a play area, and hiring and training 87 staff: at a

total cost of around £5 million. Advance estimates by leisure consultants indicated

that it would attract 250 000 visitors a year; based on an average ticket price of

around £3.50, the return on investment -low for Cadbury - would be just under

10 per cent. After much planning, Cadbury World opened to the public in mid-

August 1990.

The 1990 Cadbury-Schweppes Annual Report commented on this new venture:'Its success as a unique and absorbing leisure experience can be measured by the

185000 visitors who enjoyed the CadburyWorld experience between August and

the year end.'

THE EXPER IENCE

Nearly all visitors arrive by car or coach. Parking for cars is arranged in three areas

with a total capacity of 484. Separate spaces close to the 'Alternative Exhibition'

can accommodate 24 coaches and there is a 'picking up/setting down' area close to

the main exhibition. Data suggest that on a representative weekday (during school

term time), 15 pre-booked coaches and about 204 cars come to Cadbury World.

Typically, there are about 35 visitors per coach and 3 per car.

78



CADBURY WORLD (A)

The site is served by two other means of transport, inheritances from its industrial

past: to the rear of the factory are a railway station and a canal pier. Some visitors

come by train and there are a few commerciaLbarge operators who run tourist trips

from the centre of Birmingham out to Bournville. However, the plant layout means

these visitors have about a 10-minute walk:around the perimeter of the factory

before reaching Cadbury World. This path has been signed as 'The Factory Trail'.

The exhibition's reception area has three tills.Two are for individuals and the

other is for the leaders of coach visitor groups. The ticketing system has been the

subject of experimentation, the latest being a 'timed ticket'. This prints out a specifictime slot on a batch of tickets. However, computer problems meant that this has

not been implemented.

Ticket prices and times of opening and entry are set out in Table 6.1.

Opening times Open every day except Christmas Day

Mon.-Sat. 10.00 a.m.-5.30 p.m.

Sun. 12.00 noon-6.00 p.m.

Last admissions Mon.-Sat. 4.00 p.m., Sun. 4.30 p.m.

1991 prices(includes VAT) Adult £4.00

Child £3.00 (5-15 inclusive)

Under fives FREE

Family rate £12.85 (2 adults and 2 children)

Senior Citizen £3.60 (Mon.-Fri. only)

Groups (20 or more) must book in advance.

Table 6.1 Ticket prices and opening times

The booking system for groups requires organisers to specify their group's time

of arrival and pay a £25 deposit. The maximum size for any single group is set at

60 people. Cadbury World schedules coaches at regular times throughout the dayto space the arrival of groups. Because of the difficulty of estimating the duration

of road journeys, coaches often arrive late and miss their agreed times. This adds

to the queues of visitors at the exhibition's entrance at busy periods.

The entrance to Cadbury World has low barriers funnelling individual visitors

toward the tills.Beyond these, the reception area gives access to the exhibition, the

shop and the restaurant. Sometimes this area isused for attractions such asa 'honky-

tonk' piano player. At other times, a TV continuously plays a four-minute video

previewing many of the features visitors will see at Cadbury World. This includes

many parts of the interior of the exhibition, the packaging plant, and short extracts

of other videos which are running inside Cadbury World. A sketch of the Cadbury

World facility is reproduced in Fig. 6.1.

79



PART 2 • DESIGN

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CAD BURY WORLD (A)

The entrance to the exhibition itself is via a pair of unmarked double doors. A

ticket collector stationed here controls the number of visitors entering. A judgement

of the number of visitors to be admitted at one time is made by the ticket collector,

who periodically enters the exhibition and checks the number of visitors before 'Bull

Street', which marks the end of the first part of the exhibition. On average, in a busy

period 15-20 visitors are let in every two and a half minutes. For most of the

exhibition, visitors have no guides.

The first section of the tour describes the ancient origins of chocolate and tries

to capture the atmosphere of a South American jungle. Visitors enter a darkenedroom which has been 'dressed' with artificial trees and lianas. Among these, wax

models of South American Indians are shown making and drinking chocolate. The

narrative of the story is carried on a variety of short sign-boards and continued, a

little further on, by a continuously playing video' documentary' lasting three minutes.

'Jungle sounds' are played over loudspeakers. Some visitors pass quickly through

this section, treating it almost as an antechamber to the exhibition. A family group

of visitors was overheard while moving through the jungle:

FATHER: 'I know that smell, what is it?'

MOTHER: 'Phew, it's nice to get in out of the sun. It's quite cool in here. It'll stop my chocolates

from melting. I should have bought them at the end of the tour!

FATHER: 'Look at these Indians, they didn't wony about their chocolate melting, they drank it!'BOY: 'Mum, come on, I can hear the advert from the TV. The one with the "Man in Black"

in it!

MOTHER: 'Hold on.you'ue not seen thisyet. There is a video about the Spanish and the Indians.

I think it's in the middle, I wonder how long it'll be before it starts again?'

FATHER: 'Fibreglass! I knew I recognised it.'

The visitors then pass a scene featuring a representation of Hernando Cortes,

the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, beyond which the jungle abruptly ends. This area

has a serving hatch and a sign invites visitors to take a small plastic cup of liquid

chocolate (Tike the Incas used to drink'). A swing-top bin is next to the hatch for

the disposal of used cups. This section is generally supervised by a member of staff.

An attendant explained: 'We have problems with some of the children. They takefive or six of the cups, cover themselves in chocolate and make themselves ill.'

Visitors then pass a pictorial wall-mounted display and move (still at their own

pace) into a 'room' describing the introduction of chocolate to Europe. To the rear,

the faint sounds of the jungle can still be heard.

Beyond the European Room, visitors enter 'Bull Street' - a replica of a cobbled

Georgian street, with contemporary shop windows. An attendant in Bull Street halts

the flow of people to form groups outside a door to the next part of the tour.

This next area is the Marie Cadbury room, which has seating for 16 and

surrounding standing room. At peak times as many as 70 people are assembled in

the room, although it was originally designed for only about one-third of this number.

81



PART 2 • DESIGN

After the doors close, there is a five-minute automated 'show' which depicts, with

taped voices and three static, illuminated scenes, the early days of Cadbury. This

programme is operated by the attendant who closes the doors and starts the show

with a switch. Completion of the show is indicated to the attendant by an unobtrusive

light. This is the prompt to open the doors to allow the next group in. However, the

attendant generally waits for a minute or two before opening the doors. In this time,

the preceding group, realising that the show is over, begin to look at the wall-mountedexhibits in the room. When the attendant opens the door they begin to make their

own way out of a separate exit to the next section of the exhibition. Filling and

emptying the Marie Cadbury room takes a total of about four minutes on average,

although this does increase for large groups.

The next area comprises pictorial exhibits explaining the history of Cadbury,

Bournville village and the social background to the firm. At one end of the room, a

video entitled 'Making Chocolate' runs for three minutes. Beyond this is a mock-

up of an old factory entrance - with a working 'clock' and 'clocking-in' cards. The

entrance has two gates marked 'MEN' and 'WOMEN', as did the original factory.

Families are, therefore, separated briefly at this point. This interactive section of the

exhibition is often a cause of amusement, with older visitors explaining to childrenhow the 'clock' works.

Throughout the exhibition it appears that different types of visitors spend their

time in different ways. Most pensioners like the videos, but skip most of the written

material. School groups,however, tend to focus on the notices and narrative material.

An educational 'task sheet' available for children from the reception is a way of

holding these visitors' attention.

From here, visitors leave the new building and directly enter part of the factory

- the East Cocoa Block. The contrast is marked: the experience is typical of a factory

built in the 1930s. The floors and stairs are concrete and the walls bare, .cream-

painted brick. Surprisingly, there is little smell of chocolate.

What the visitor sees next depends on whether the factory itself is running. Thefactory has scheduled maintenance shut-down periods of about 37 days per year.

When the factory is working, visitors see the packaging plant. At other times they

miss this out and go directly to the demonstration area. It is clearly indicated in

advance that the packaging plant is not guaranteed to be open every day. Nevertheless,

a few visitors become quite annoyed if they cannot visit it because of these shut-

downs.

THE PA C KA GIN G PL AN T

This is located at second-floor level and reached by the original factory stairs. There

is a ground-floor waiting area for visitors in wheelchairs who cannot reach thepackaging plant, since there is no lift. At the top landing a queue forms in front of

a TV playing Cadbury's adverts. The tour comprises a route with three stopping

82



CADBURY WORLD CA)

points or 'stations'. A guide collects a group of around 30 people from the landing

and leads it to the first station. Here, a short video showing the factory is played

with a commentary added by the guide.

Following this halt of about three minutes, the guide leads the group to the next

station. On the way, they meet the preceding group returning from the second

station. This causes some confusion and delay, as the groups must pass in a narrow

walkway. The guide then marshals the group at the second station (about 30 metres

from the previous halt) from where the packaging machinery can be seen and heard.

The packaging plant itself is a very clean area in which white-coated attendants and

engineers monitor the wrapped bars of chocolate rolling off the line. The format

here is the same: a brief video which explains the packaging process, with live

commentary added by the guide. Visitors may be surprised to see that some guides

read their commentary from hand-written prompt cards. After the video has run

they follow the preceding group and retrace their steps, meeting the next group on

the walkway. Before leaving this area the guide halts, gives another brief explanation

and then offers visitors chocolates from a tray. On warm days, visitors are offered

paper towels on which to clean their fmgers. The packaging plant section of the tour

is generally completed in about eight minutes.

Shaping

and forming

THE DEM ONSTRA TION A REA

This part of the tour is run in guided groups of about 15 people. At peak times,

about eight guides are on duty. Guides have the option of addressing their groups

with their own voices or, for larger groups, by means of a portable microphone.

Visitors are encouraged to ask questions. There are normally several groups on the

circuit round the demonstration area (see Fig. 6.2).

The demonstration area is on the ground floor and shows a number of production

operations carried out by about seven staff on small, 'old technology' machines.

These machines have been chosen to enable operations such as the coating of nuts

in chocolate to be seen and understood. The visitors are separated from these

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Fig. 6.2 The demonstration area

83



PART 2 • DESIGN

operations by chest-high perspex screens. The demonstration staff, who have been

recruited from the factory, wear white production clothing and have been trained

to interact with visitors. After watching an operation (for example vibrating chocolate

into moulds or turning out blocks), visitors are offered samples of chocolate. Overhead,

a number of hanging photographs show the full-scale production equivalent of each

of these machines.This section of the tour continues with a number of demonstrations

of the production ofluxury, handmade chocolates. As before, staff are behind clearscreens; they carry out a number of dipping, ennobling (coating) and finishing

operations. After being given.more free samples and asking questions, the group

moves out of the demonstration area and back into the new building. Although there

is not a set number of points of interest, visitors may see up to eight operations in

this area.

Inthe demonstration area, some visitors 'graze', moving from one guide's group

to the one ahead, and complete the section in as little as six minutes. By contrast,

other visitors take the opportunity to ask many questions, look at all the points of

interest and sample all the free chocolate. Inthis case, they and their guide may take

up to 17 minutes to get round. No overtaking of guides by the following guides is

allowed. Guides, therefore, need to adjust the length of their explanations in orderto match the speed of their group to that of any preceding group - which may

include an unusually slow visitor.

Guides have noticed that they fmd it easier to control their groups when they use

the microphones.

EXIT

The remainder of the tour is unaccompanied and focuses on marketing material.

This includes a video on the making of a MilkTrayTV advert (the 'Man in Black')

and video compilations of advertisements which can be selected by visitors pressing

buttons.

The end of the route leads directly into the rear of the shop.

THE SHOP

This sells a wide range of Cadbury products as well as 'branded' mementoes such

as tea towels, mugs and T-shirts. Most of the goods are on self-service display and

pilferage by children is believed to be a problem. There are three checkouts and

most goods are bar-coded. Observations show that, on average, during busy periods

a customer can be served at each till every 15 seconds.

While most tour visitors enter the shop through the back entrance (having

completed the tour), a number of customers also browse and buy before the beginning

of the tour.

84



CADBURY WORLD (A )

THE RESTAURANT

The Centre Services Manager described the restaurant: 'The restaurant is modelled

on that of a "Food Court" such as those typically included in modern indoor shopping

centres. There is a good choice of foods and there is something for everybody.'

Approached from the reception area via a single entrance, it is a self-service

restaurant with five serving points arranged in a row. Four of these are labelled:

'Patisserie', 'Baked Potato', 'Traditional' and 'Seafood'. The fifth is a heavily used

point serving tea and coffee. The range of food choice cannot be seen from the

entrance to the restaurant. Visitors enter, peruse the various serving points and then

make their decision on food type and thus decide which queue to join. This can take

a little while, especially in the case of some old people and families. The popularity

of the adjacent 'Baked Potato', tea and coffee and 'Traditional' serving points

results in knots of customers at busy times. Payment is taken separately at each sales

point.

Customers take their selections to the seating area. This is a large airy room

providing comfortable surroundings. Fifty-three tables of various sizes provide 169

covers.

Typically, people spend 25 minutes in the restaurant. Tables are promptly cleared

and cleaned by pleasant staff based in a 'refuge' in the centre of the seating area.

Most visitors to Cadbury World come into the restaurant.

C OFFEE A ND IC E-C REA M PA RLOUR

This small area is approached via the shop and has 46 'covers', comprising stools

at the island bar and separate tables around it.The design of the parlour is reminiscent

of an American-style diner. The parlour sells coffee, tea and ice-cream. On average,

a visitor stays in the parlour for 18 minutes. At anyone time, about 25-30 people

can be found there.

THE ALTERNATIVE EXH IB IT ION

This is located close to the coach park, 300 metres from the main exhibition. It is

a converted factory building, about 250 square metres in area. In 'feel', it is more

like a traditional museum than the rest of Cadbury World. It houses static displays

of old machinery, a fire engine and other historic items. More than 95 per cent of

visitors to the main exhibition come here. A small 'shuttle bus' is provided to take

visitors between the two sites. The Alternative Exhibition is staffed, and visitors

(some of whom are retired Cadbury employees) often ask detailed technical

questions.

85



PART 2 • DESIGN

THE UNHAPPY FEW!

Cadbury World receives approximately six letters of complaint per 10 000 visitors.

Each one receives a reply. Problems with unhappy visitors in the exhibition are dealt

with by staff but, if necessary, the Manager will personally attend to aggrieved

parties. Staff are trained to ascertain customers' expectations and why they are

disappointed. The objective is to 'send people home happy'. A recent incidentinvolved two pensioners who were upset by the closure of the packaging plant on

a day not explicitly specified in the promotional material.

PENSIONERS: 'Your brochure says the packaging plant is closedfrom tomorrow, not today. This

is the second time this has happened. It was closed a month ago when we last came. ~ want

our money back.'

CADBURY WORLD STAFF: 'I'm sorry the plant is closed, but thefactory ispreparing for the shut-

down today. I know the last time you came it was also closed, but then it was at a clearly

scheduled time.'

After a few more exchanges the Manager saw the customers and gave them vouchers

for Cadbury products, which seemed to satisfy them.

MARKETING

The Centre Services Manager explained:

'At present, our only promotion is a limited drop of leaflets to travel agents and Tourist

Boards. 1 -% also have an arrangement with British Rail for combined, reduced rate

travel and Cadbury ~rld tickets.

'1-%do not see ourselves as being in competition with other attractions in the 1-%st

Midlands. 1 -% have provided a new faciHty for the local community, and an exciting

outing for visitors to the area!

'Our pricing policy was decided after looking q,t the duration of the "experience".

W B think it takes a half day: about an hour and a half in the exhibition, half an hourin the Alternative Exhibition and then the restaurant and shop. 1 -% then looked at

comparable leisure venues such asWarwick Castle and tried toprovide value for money

for visitors.

'W B strive to give the customer a good feeling and believe happy staff create happy

customers. To give you an example, recently we were telephoned by an anxious group

leader whose coach was coming from a long distance and was delayed. The passengers

had not eaten for hours, so we kept the Restaurant open an extra 45 minutes to let them

get a meal'

CUSTOMER INFORMATION

86

The following gives the breakdown of the relative numbers of visitors in a week in

October 1990: /nO/! ~ - In'I'~. 6 ( J ' / t Jffa/th (Y {'!_ 5J / e " J (1

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ug b 233 assignment

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