Darrell Lea is an Australian company that manufactures and distributes chocolate, liquorice and other confectionery. Its headquarters is based in

Ingleburn, New South Wales Ingleburn is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 40 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of City of Campbelltown (New South Wales), ...

. After 85 years under the ownership and control of the Lea family, the company went into voluntary administration in 2012 leading to its acquisition, sale and restructuring under new ownership.

History

Darrell Lea was in the ownership of the Lea family from its foundation by Harry Lea until the early 2010s. Harry, who was born on 15 February 1876 in

Spitalfields, London Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, T ...

, migrated to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 1888 and started making confectionery in 1917 at the back of his Manly Corso fruit shop. Lea started the first shop in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1927 in Sydney's

Haymarket Haymarket may refer to: Places Australia * Haymarket, New South Wales, area of Sydney, Australia Germany * Heumarkt (KVB), transport interchange in Cologne on the site of the Heumarkt (literally: hay market) Russia * Sennaya Square (''Hay Squ ...

, being a combined milk bar and confectionery shop. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

in 1929, a shop became vacant in

Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sec ...

, and in 1935 a factory was established at 1

York Street York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a m ...

. His first almond nougat creation was called Bulgarian Rock. Monty (Montague) and Harris Lea, the two middle sons of Harry, opened a manufacturing operation in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, with their first shop on

Swanston Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of the main streets of the Melbourne central business district and was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertically ...

, in 1940. Harry Lea died in 1957. Maurice Lea, Harry's eldest son, opened five shops in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1966 and delivered fresh stock until he (Maurice) retired in 1996. Robert Lea, Harris' second son, opened a shop in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1966. In 1968, the company was listed on the

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...

, with Darrell (-1992) as chairman and managing director (Harris became managing director in 1971), but was privatised again in 1982, with Jason Durard Lea (28 September 1942 – 12 September 2005), Monty's son, being managing director from 1983 to 1998. Darrell died in 1990, aged 62. In 1992, the Darrell Lea chocolate factory at

Kogarah Kogarah () is a suburb of Southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Kogarah is located 14 kilometres (9 miles) south-west of the Sydney central business district and is considered to be the centre of the St George area. Loca ...

was rebuilt with modern machinery after a fire in the previous year.

Voluntary administration

On 10 July 2012, Darrell Lea was placed into

voluntary administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry o ...

due to a review of the business by its directors who had concerns about Darrell Lea's ability to meet its ongoing financial obligations. The company was reported to be losing $200,000 a week, and half of its company-run stores were closed immediately, with the loss of nearly 200 jobs.

Acquisition

On 3 September 2012, the company was acquired by the Queensland owners of VIP Petfoods, the Quinn family. The business was further restructured, with the loss of 172 casual and 246 permanent jobs, leaving only 83 Darrell Lea employees. The last company-owned stores were closed by end of business on 9 September 2012. The Quinns turned the business around after injecting about $30 million into it and building a second factory in Ingleburn. More than 500 products were cut from the product line which halved annual revenue, but stopped the ongoing losses. Darrell Lea products continued to be sold through its licensed retailer network which was expanded into

IGA Iga may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Ambush at Iga Pass, a 1958 Japanese film * Iga no Kagemaru, Japanese manga series * Iga, a set of characters from the Japanese novel '' The Kouga Ninja Scrolls'' Biology * ''Iga'' (beetle), a gen ...

, Coles and

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...

. In January 2018,

Quadrant Private Equity Quadrant Private Equity (also simply known as Quadrant) is an Australian private equity investment firm based in Sydney, Australia. The company was founded as Quadrant Capital in 1996 by Chris Hadley. Quadrant hosts multiple investment funds w ...

purchased Darrell Lea from the Quinn family for about $200 million. Tony and Christina Quinn retained a significant stake in the company.

Products

Prior to 2012, Darrell Lea's range comprised over 800 products, including chocolate boxes, sugar free products and fundraising items with 60 extra items created seasonally for

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

and

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

. It is particularly famous for its iconic "Rocklea Road" recipe, Australia's most famous version of Rocky Road chocolate. In the review conducted by the Quinn family after the restructure, the company eliminated or put on hold many of the lesser-known products to concentrate on expanding the sales and distribution of its more profitable products.

Legal battle

In April 2008, Darrell Lea won a five-year legal battle brought by rival chocolate company

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

over Darrell Lea's use of the colour purple on its packaging (which Cadbury uses for its Dairy Milk range packaging), when the Australian judge ruled that Darrell Lea was not trying to fool customers by adopting the shade."Lea purple rides again after Cadbury backdown"
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' 9 March 2005

Community involvement

Darrell Lea has sponsored a local high school in order to assist students in continuing their studies to completion, and has supported The Lorna Hodgkinson Sunshine Home which employs people with severe

intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

. Additionally, the company helps organisations such as the

Starlight Foundation Starlight Children's Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1982. Starlight's programs include providing hospital wear, games, and deliveries to hospitalized children. The programs are provided directly to children through Starlight's ne ...

Variety Club Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

, and other local youth groups.

References

External links

Darrell Lea – AustraliaDarrell Lea – USAHarry Lea biography
at

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

*{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310185337/http://www.businessreviewaustralia.com/company-reports/darrell-lea-chocolate-shops, title=Darrell Lea company information on Business Review Australia, origurl=http://www.businessreviewaustralia.com/company-reports/darrell-lea-chocolate-shops, date=10 March 2012 Australian brands Australian chocolate companies Companies based in Sydney Retail companies established in 1927 Australian companies established in 1927 Food and drink companies established in 1927