S2 Episode 6: Whatever Happened to Fry's?

Fry's milk chocolate : sweeter than honey : 300 gold medals & diplomas awarded to the firm. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sqhmhf8s

In Episode 6 I am joined by chocolate historian, archivist and novelist Alex Hutchinson to discuss the rise and fall of the Bristol based Fry’s chocolate company.

In this episode I discover what made quakers such good business people and why chocolate in particular appealed to them (aside from its delicious taste, obviously). We chat about the innovations in chocolate processing and business opportunities that helped make Fry’s the leading British chocolate manufacturer in the nineteenth century before its decline in the early twentieth century. So what went wrong?

Fry's pure concentrated soluble cocoa : prepared by a special scientific process, securing extreme solubility, and developing the finest flavour of the cocoa / J.S. Fry & Sons. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/hv8bekce

Useful Links

Alex the Archivist

Penny Thorpe Books:

• The Quality Street Girls

• The Mothers of Quality Street

• The Quality Street Wedding

• A Quality Street Christmas

You can follow Alex on Twitter/X and Instagram.

Records of J S Fry and Sons, chocolate manufacturers, of Bristol are kept at the Bristol Archives.

You can view an advert for Fry’s Churchman’s Chocolate here.

A written Virtual Tour of chocolate sites in Bristol is available on Internet Archive.

More information about the various Test Acts is available at parliament.uk

Don’t forget to check out my new podcast collaboration with Dr Neil Buttery and Dr Allie Pino the A is for Apple Podcast. You can follow this podcast on Instagram, Twitter/X and there is a newsletter on Substack too!

Fry's homoeopathic cocoa : manufactured by J.S. Fry & Sons, Bristol, and 252 City Road, London, chocolate and cocoa manufacturers by appointment to the Queen and Prince of Wales / Joseph Storrs Fry & Sons. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dq28m5yk

Suggested Reading

Fry's Chocolate Dream: The Rise and Fall of a Chocolate Empire by John Bradley, 2013

Cadbury's Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate's Best-Loved Brand by John Bradley, 2008

Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry. by Deborah Cadbury, London: Harper Press, 2010

‘J.S. Fry & sons: Growth and Decline in the Chocolate Industry, 1753-1918’ by Stefanie Diaper in Studies in the Business History of Bristol edited Charles E. Harvey and Jon Press, Bristol: Bristol Academic Press, 1988, pp33-55

‘Dying for a Humbug, the Bradford Sweets Poisoning 1858’ by Ben Johnson on Historic UK

Sailor Rations in the 18th Century - Burgoo (YouTube)

The Chocolate Conscience by Gillian Wagner, Chatto & Windus, 1987