Rowntree

Rowntree’s Quaker heritage is also the central theme of its history - even its production methods and marketing ethics were part of this.

The firm of Rowntree dates from July 1862 when Henry Isaac Rowntree (1838-83) bought his former employers’ cocoa, chocolate and chicory business, Tuke and Co.

Sales in 1862 were less than £3,000, a tenth of those of Cadbury and a twentieth of Fry. Rowntree’s output was approximately 12cwt, two thirds of which was Tuke’s Superior Rock. This was soon renamed Rowntree’s Prize Medal Rock Cocoa and made with the traditional technology, which was fine ground, mixed with sugar and sold in cakes. It was of a higher quality than Rowntree’s other varieties, which were mixed with some starchy substance. Both types of cocoa never-theless contained the cocoa shell as well as the nib, and when mixed with hot water (as a drink) tended to be fatty.