‘It’s reigniting an absolute icon’: Chocolate Experience at Cadbury’s to bring back spirit of beloved tours

Up to half a million visitors are expected to flock each year to a Willy Wonka-esque marvel at Cadbury’s. It’s hoped to reignite the spirit of the much-loved, and lost, Hobart chocolate factory tours.

Plans for a new chocolate tourism experience near the Cadbury chocolate factory in Hobart Tasmania. The proponent is tourism industry leader Simon Currant. Pictures: Cumulus Studio

The mastermind behind the Chocolate Experience at Cadbury project says almost half a million visitors will flock to the Willy Wonka-esque marvel each year.

On Sunday, Tasmanian tourism giant Simon Currant laid out further details of the imaginative, $100 million project – announcing it would bring back the joy and excitement that generations of Tasmanians previously had in visiting Hobart’s chocolate factory.

Cadbury’s shut down its hugely-popular factory tours in 2008 due to international changes in health and safety guidelines.

Mr Currant said the Chocolate Experience would be held on-site, although separate from the factory, on a waterfront parcel of land leased from Cadbury’s parent company Mondelez on a “very long-term” basis.

“My vision for many years has been to have our own chocolate experience back here,” he told journalists at Cadbury’s.

“This is going to be a purely Tasmanian experience and not copying anything you’ll find anywhere else in the world.

“It’s reigniting something that was an absolute icon, it was the most visited tourism operation in Tasmania for many, many years.”

Premier Jeremy Rockliff and site manager Roberta Pietroniro at the Cadbury factory, Claremont. Picture: Chris Kidd

Mr Currant said his team had been working on the concept full-time for two-and-a-half years.

“(The idea) came from reigniting something that was here before, and building on it in today’s world, and delivering it in a way that will blow people’s minds,” he said.

“It will engage people in an experience they will go away remembering forever, as well as obviously a lot of chocolate.”

The experience will include a “time tunnel” of the history of chocolate in Tasmania, which will run through to a “chocolate emporium” stretching up three to four storeys before visitors engage in nine or 10 “chocolate experiences”.

These will include the world’s largest chocolate fountain and the chance for people to create their own, bespoke chocolate bar from Tasmanian ingredients.

“You might even be wrapped up as a chocolate bar and come out the other end,” Mr Currant said.

Mr Currant said it was expected close to 500,000 people would visit the Chocolate Experience each year, most of whom would arrive at the Claremont site via a River Derwent ferry.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Chocolate Experience at Cadbury proponent Simon Currant at the Cadbury factory, Claremont. Picture: Chris Kidd

The state government has promised to contribute $12 million to the project if re-elected and help bring back a tourism “icon” that brought excitement to thousands of Tasmanian children for five decades.

“We’ll reignite the wonderful tours that many thousands of Tasmanians can well-remember with great fondness and great affection,” Premier Jeremy Rockliff said.

Mr Rockliff said the Hobart Cadbury’s factory exported 65,000 tonnes of chocolate and 200 million chocolate bars each year, and employed 450 Tasmanians.

“We want to build on that, add value to what is already an icon.”

SWEET TREAT: $100m plan for world’s best chocolate experience

A unique $100m Chocolate Experience project, including the world’s tallest ‘glass and a half’ chocolate fountain and emporium, will be built on the waterfront at the Cadbury factory north of Hobart.

Work will start next year on the development which is the brainchild of tourism industry doyen Simon Currant who has spent 15 years researching and collaborating with Cadbury.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff has backed the development with $4m funding if the Liberals are re-elected and says it is the greatest thing to happen in tourism since MONA and will be a “must-see” for every visitor to Tasmania.

Mr Currant expects the chocolate project will inject $120m into the visitor economy each year, create more than 300 construction jobs and more than 200 jobs when it opens in 2026.

“Cadbury is already a loved and valued contributor to the Tasmanian economy,” he said.

“The Chocolate Experience at Cadbury will elevate it even further and add a new experience element, ensuring its sustainability and vibrance into the future.

“This is a uniquely Tasmanian story that embraces provenance, innovation and artisan chocolate production with the entire State sharing in the benefits.”

Plans for a new chocolate tourism experience near the Cadbury chocolate factory in Hobart Tasmania. The proponent is tourism industry leader Simon Currant. Pictures: Cumulus Studio

It would, he said, embrace Cadbury’s 100-year history and include an immersive 3D time tunnel.

Access to the Chocolate Experience will be via the Derwent River on two new purpose-built, themed electric ferries built in Hobart and operated by Navigators, arriving at a new Claremont ferry terminal.

Mr Currant said the project would beautify the Claremont waterfront, provide a new jetty terminal, public walkways into the parkland, and extend the Hobart foreshore cycleway to Claremont.

Visitors will be able to craft personalised chocolates in the ‘build your own bar’ experience from ‘milk to wrapper’, enjoy a parkland cafe and playground and chocolate lounge, featuring degustation dessert dining.

The chocolate emporium is hailed as the biggest in the world and a chocolate studio will manufacture uniquely Tasmania-branded bespoke chocolates with ingredients from Tasmanian growers and producers.

Tasmanian tourism identity, Simon Currant. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Mr Rockliff said if re-elected the Liberals would invest $2m over 18 months to progress planning, designs, approvals, and get to shovel ready with another $2m to be invested over 18 months to progress early-stage works on the site including but not limited to public walkways, public cycle infrastructure and headworks.

He said subject to the achievement of agreed milestones, up to a further $8 million investment for the precinct would be made available.

“Tourism has rewritten attitudes about how Australia and the world sees Tasmania, and importantly it has shaped how we define ourselves,” Mr Rockliff said.

“This will re-write the ‘must-see’ list for every visitor that comes to Tasmania; hug a Tassie devil, sip wine on Wineglass, stroll Salamanca, climb Cradle, and cap that all off with the sweetest experience of them all at the Chocolate Experience at Cadbury.”

Mr Currant thanked the Liberals for investing in the Tasmanian visitor economy and said two local businesses, Cumulus and Art Processors, would be responsible for the design and creative work for the Chocolate Experience at Cadbury.

He said a chocolate studio would support education partnerships, career pathways, and school work experience opportunities.

The Cadbury factory at Claremont is the largest chocolate factory in the Southern Hemisphere, producing more than 65,000 tonnes and 200m blocks of chocolate annually.

It is owned by Mondalez International which has headquarters in Chicago and employs more than 450 staff and uses 130 million litres of milk from over 50 North West Tasmanian dairy farms.

Mr Currant, a former Tasmanian of the Year, is a highly successful tourism developer and former head of the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania.

His developments include Cradle Mountain Lodge, Pumphouse Point, Strahan Village and Peppermint Bay.