Ringwood Cadbury factory tour: pre-Easter chocolate production ramps up

EVER wondered what it’s like to work in a chocolate factory? We went inside the Ringwood Cadbury plant — where everything from Easter eggs to Cherry Ripes and Crunchies are made. SEE THE PICTURES AND VIDEO.

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CHOCOHOLICS rejoice — Cadbury’s Ringwood factory is pumping out a record number of chocolatey delights to make this Easter the most eggs-cellent ever.

The Canterbury Rd factory, operated by Mondelēz International, celebrated its 50th birthday last year and produces an epic 30,000 tonnes of chocolate annually.

It’s the engine room responsible for supplying Australia with its chocolate fix every Easter and is brought to life by more than 600 workers.

Lidia Pilot and Clair Stacey show off the Easter bunnies at the Cadbury factory in Ringwood. Picture: Stuart Milligan

The numbers would make Willy Wonka blush — this year it will produce 250 million ‘tiny’ eggs, 63 million ‘small’ eggs, 17 million bunnies, and up to 70 different products.

It’s all done alongside the factory’s usual production of chocolate bars including the Cherry Ripe, Crunchie and Boost.

Millions of Easter eggs are made at the factory. Picture: Stuart Milligan

Cadbury’s Easter area lead Tom Castle said production “ramped up” in December to meet the expected demand.

“At the start of the year it gets crazy for us, and it’s been pretty intense the last two months,” he said.

“We’re trying to get everything to the marketplace and onto the shelves right on time, it’s right down to the wire.”

Tom Castle, the Easter bunny and his chaperone. Picture: Stuart Milligan

Maroondah Leader was recently given a rare tour of the factory’s Easter production line.

As we made our way through, there were conveyor belts full of bunnies and eggs ready to be wrapped, packed and sent to stores.

There were also Smarties flying down chutes and dedicated labelling machines — after all, today was dedicated to making Humpty Dumpty eggs, Crunchie Bunnies and Red Tulip Bunnies.

Coldstream’s Esther Pezzimenti, a dedicated “wrapper and packer” for 16 years, said the buzz of Easter made working at the factory extra special.

Esther Pezzimenti loves working at the factory, especially in the lead-up to Easter.

“Production is pretty full on, because we’re getting bunnies out and getting eggs out for the whole world,” Ms Pezzimenti said.

“But the company and the people make it a good place, the vibe inside the room is great.”

“We’re making chocolate — what could be better than that?”

You can’t beat an original, and Cadbury’s Dairy Milk eggs and its “iconic” 150g chocolate bunnies are its biggest sellers.

But Mr Castle said the success of the factory’s most popular bar — Cherry Ripe — had translated into the Easter market, as Cherry Ripe egg sales had “gone up dramatically over the last couple of years”.

Prime Minister John Howard tours the factory in 1998.

He also expects a new salted caramel egg range to be popular with sweet-toothes this year.

While workers don’t get to take home any free chocolate over Easter, Mr Castle said they were all involved in taste testing.

He and the staff also get a holiday break after Easter — before starting production of novelty items for Christmas and the following Easter.

“We’ve done everything for this one day, and as soon as we’ve done that, we get to rest easy, and then start preparing again,” he said.