Historic chocolate factory in Little Portugal aims to give back to the community

You’ve likely had a taste of Cadbury chocolates, but did you know the products sold in Canada are made in the city’s Little Portugal neighbourhood?

“Mondelēz International was established as an organization a little over 10 years ago. Here in Canada we operate five manufacturing facilities including our historic Cadbury factory,” says Noah Farber, director of corporate and government affairs at Mondelēz, the parent company of Cadbury.

Before this chocolate factory at 277 Gladstone Ave. was producing your favourite Cadbury products, it was used by the Neilson family.

Canadian businessman William Neilson started the company in the late 19th century, focusing on dairy products. Neilson started as a milk retailer but switched to cream and ice cream products. The factory on Gladstone Avenue was purchased in 1905 and was said to be essential to the growth of the business.

“So from when the facility was built until now, we’ve continued to find ways to update and modernize the facility, expanded on the facility, and made investments in a number of production lines to bring in new innovations to the market in Canada, to bring in new and innovative technologies. We continue to look at opportunities to invest and upgrade the facility,” Farber says.

Mondelez produces a number of products from cookies, chocolates and even candies, among other favorites.

“We’re very proud to be part of this vibrant neighbourhood. We make some of Canada’s favourite chocolate in this building … it’s home to Cadbury Dairy Milk, for example, which is one of Canada’s favorite, also, Cadbury Caramilk. We also have our Easter favorites like Cadbury Mini Eggs and we’re also investing heavily in this facility to actually keep up with the demand of Mini Eggs, so we’re planning to invest over $15 million to increase the capacity in this facility,” says Samuel Bussieres, director of marketing at Mondelēz.

The team at Mondelēz doesn’t just help out your sweet tooth but they are active in the community helping local groups such as BCG Canada in Little Portugal and the team was instrumental in helping Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war to Canada.

The historic facility has also been an integral part of the community through employment and volunteering.

“We feel like we’re a critical part of the community, and we try to live that value in how we engage with the neighbourhood around us and provide opportunities for people to get to know us. In the past, we’ve done community events as well, where we’ve brought people in and we’ve had opportunities to engage with the neighbours,” Farber says.