So, my trousers may be a little tighter, but I have to say the Cadbury factory tour was one of the highlights of my MBA so far.
Factory tours were the grand finale of Operations Management, one of our Lent term core courses. Factories on the list this year included Rolls Royce, a brewery, Jaguar, a printing facility, and Cadbury Schweppes.
Due to my airplane-automobile-all-things-macho-fatigue, I chose Cadbury Schweppes... and kept my fingers crossed it would be chocolate, not tonic water.
And chocolate it was! Lots of chocolate! Though we had to be very patient in order to receive it.
Upon arriving at Cadbury, we were greeted by one of the managers (who got his start in cocoa production - love it!) and treated to lunch. Our factory tour followed, for which we had to don fabulous ensembles that included booties, flimsy jackets, pseudo-shower caps, and ear plugs so as not to contaminate the precious chocolate.
Here we are, looking quite like Smurf surgeons I think!
The factory itself was pretty fascinating. My personal highlight was visiting the Creme Egg manufacturing area - yes, the Creme Eggs, Cadbury's crown jewels, get their own section of the plant - and seeing how they create the perfect yellow and white egg-like fillings.
Yum.
Anyway, after the tour we spoke to one of the other big-wigs, who answered our questions. But I was a little distracted during this conversation, as the chocolate arrived! Giant, heavy gift bags full of chocolate. A sweet ending to a very fun day.
Jen
I'm jealous. Although Xiao unloaded some of her goodies. Speaking of which I'm having a cadbury bar as I type!