The Cadbury’s factory in Dunedin will close at the end of the year. The factory employs 350 workers.
Dunedin is a small city of about 130,000 people so closing this factory will have a big impact on the city.
The Cadbury company has manufactured chocolate in Dunedin since 1930. It is now owned by an American company, Mondelez International, which is moving the business to Australia because that is closer to their markets.
In 2003, Cadbury’s opened Cadbury World which is popular with tourists. It is a tour of their five storey building with a chocolate waterfall. That will remain open. Dunedin also has a chocolate carnival every year. The Dunedin City Council grants some money for this carnival but Mondelez International has always provided a lot more money. It includes the world’s steepest street party where jaffas are rolled down the steepest street. Profits from the competition support charities.
Listen to July 8 2012 for more about the chocolate carnival and check the vocabulary.
Some people are suggesting a boycott of Cadbury’s but the Mayor of Dunedin pointed out that the Dunedin factory will continue for the rest of this year. Nobody wants it to close too soon.
Vocabulary
• impact (n and v) – a strong effect
• grant (v and n) – to give for a good cause, a gift from an organisation
• boycott (n and v) – refusal to buy Cadbury products, to refuse to buy Cadbury chocolate
• to point out (v) – to give some important information that people may have forgotten, to remind people