J.H. Whittaker & Sons, Ltd (Whittaker's) is a
confectionery
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...
manufacturer
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...
specialising in
palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
-free
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...
and based in
Porirua
Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. Whittaker's is the largest chocolate brand in New Zealand.
Approximately 30% of their production is now exported. The company controls its entire manufacturing process in its facility in
Porirua
Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...
, identifying itself as a "bean-to-bar" manufacturer.
James Henry Whittaker (1868–1947) started the business in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
in 1896
and it was later moved to
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
.
History
![Whittaker's Chocolate te reo label](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Whittaker%27s_Chocolate_te_reo_label.jpg)
James Henry Whittaker worked in the British confectionery industry at the age of 14 and moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1890. Six years later he started manufacturing chocolate confectionery, selling it directly to customers using horse and van.
[History]
. J.H. Whittaker & Sons, Ltd. In 1913, he established a partnership with his two sons, Ronald and James, based in Wellington. The business became a limited liability company in 1937, with third-generation Whittakers still the sole shareholders in the company. In 1969 the company moved from Wellington to Porirua, because they needed more space and their premises at 167 Vivian Street were under threat from motorway development.
The Peanut Slab was invented in the 1950s
and Whittaker's began exporting it in 1985.
In the 1970s and 80s they also produced Santé Bars, Toffee Milk Bars and K-Bars.
The company began producing large blocks of chocolate in the 1990s.
In 1992 the company formed J.H. Whittaker New Zealand Ltd.
[
The company has provided commercial sponsorship for motor sports in New Zealand as well as for the ]All Blacks
The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...
.
The company's marketing phrases include "A passion for chocolate since 1896" and "Good honest chocolate" and also "from bean to bar". In 2011 it was listed as New Zealand's third most trusted brand by Bradley Colman survey. From 2012 to 2022 Whittaker's was voted New Zealand's most trusted brand, benefitting from 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 ...
's 2009 bad publicity surrounding palm oil and changes in product size, and further fallout from Cadbury's closure of its Dunedin factory in 2017.
In May 2014, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson filmed an advert for Whittaker's in the 1930s Wellington railway station
Wellington railway station, or Wellington Central station, is the main railway station serving Wellington, New Zealand, and is the southern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Line.
The station opened in ...
. Later, in 2022, Karl Urban
Karl-Heinz Urban (born 7 June 1972) is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and TV series such as '' Xena: Warrior Princess''. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film ''Ghost Ship''. Since t ...
appeared in an advert as a fictionalised time-travelling James Whittaker, right outside the same location.
In June 2014, Whittaker's expanded its market to Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
In 2014 Whittaker's set up a programme to support and improve cocoa bean production in Samoa, and in 2017 expanded the programme to include New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2019 Whittaker's admitted that while some bars have ethically sourced cocoa beans, the sugar is primarily sourced from Thailand. Thailand is known to have child labour in the sugar cane industry. In 2020 Whittaker's announced that its 116 products made with Ghanaian cocoa beans would now be 'Rainforest Alliance
The Rainforest Alliance is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with staff in more than 20 countries and operations in more than 70 countries. It was founded in 1987 by Daniel Katz, an American environmental activist, who serves ...
Certified'. The company also uses small amounts of beans from Samoa and Nicaragua.
Apart from being named as New Zealand's most trusted brand, the company has won other awards including 'Exporter of the Year' at the 2021 ExportNZ ASB Wellington Export Awards and Supreme Award in the 2022 Wellington Gold Awards, which are awarded to recognise businesses in the Wellington region.
In August 2022 the company released an image of a chocolate bar wrapper which it produced for Māori Language Week
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
, which has the chocolate variety 'Creamy Milk' written in Māori as 'Miraka Kirīmi'. The initiative was met with both praise and hostility from the public.
See also
* List of bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers
References
{{Reflist
External links
Whittaker's official website
List and review of 52 varieties of Whittaker's family blocks, novelty bars and mini slabs
Chocolate companies
Food manufacturers of New Zealand
New Zealand confectionery
Food and drink companies established in 1896
New Zealand brands
New Zealand companies established in 1896