0:00:02 > 0:00:04We are, without doubt, a nation of chocolate lovers.
0:00:04 > 0:00:09We eat, each of us, on average, this much chocolate every year.
0:00:09 > 0:00:14'That's a whopping 266 bars each.'
0:00:14 > 0:00:19And the British love affair with chocolate begins here,
0:00:19 > 0:00:20Liverpool port.
0:00:21 > 0:00:29Around 70,000 tonnes of cocoa beans arrive into the UK every year.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31They're trucked to factories all over Britain
0:00:31 > 0:00:35and they're used to feed our insatiable sweet tooth.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40But how do you produce chocolate on this scale?
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Whoa!
0:00:43 > 0:00:47We've come to one of the world's largest chocolate makers
0:00:47 > 0:00:48to find out.
0:00:50 > 0:00:51'I'm Gregg Wallace...'
0:00:51 > 0:00:53I love chocolate.
0:00:53 > 0:00:54Whey!
0:00:54 > 0:00:57'And I've been given exclusive access to this giant factory
0:00:57 > 0:00:58in York...'
0:00:58 > 0:01:00Oh, my word.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04'..to reveal how they make over seven million bars in one day.'
0:01:05 > 0:01:07How much of a chocolate geek have you become?
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Well, if I went on Mastermind
0:01:09 > 0:01:12I reckon I could get through that quite easy.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15'I'm Cherry Healey and I'm going to get hands-on
0:01:15 > 0:01:17'on a production line in Derbyshire.'
0:01:17 > 0:01:21What is this Willie Wonka contraption?
0:01:21 > 0:01:25And historian Ruth Goodman will delve into the factory archives
0:01:25 > 0:01:28and meet the people who found love on the production line.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30And I said, "I'd love to take him to bed and cuddle him..."
0:01:30 > 0:01:32cos he was like a teddy bear.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37From bean to bar, we're going to follow the amazing journey
0:01:37 > 0:01:39of one of our bestselling chocolates.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43You'll never look at a chocolate bar the same way again.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47This is the incredible story of the factories that feed Britain.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04This is the Nestle factory in York.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09It's one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13800 production staff work around the clock to produce
0:02:13 > 0:02:18millions of bars a day which go to every corner of the UK and Ireland.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24On this site, we'll see how raw cocoa beans arrive by truck and
0:02:24 > 0:02:27leave just 24 hours later as chocolate bars
0:02:27 > 0:02:29ready for the supermarket.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33And tonight, I'll be following the journey of the Kit Kat.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40This is one of the most popular chocolate bars in the world.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45We eat one billion of these every year in the UK alone.
0:02:45 > 0:02:50'That's a staggering 1,900 every single minute.'
0:02:55 > 0:02:58But whether you like your chocolate dark, milk or white
0:02:58 > 0:03:00it all starts with the cocoa bean.
0:03:02 > 0:03:08Every day, 120 tonnes of them arrive at the bean processing plant
0:03:08 > 0:03:09to start the production.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12I'm going to roll up my sleeves
0:03:12 > 0:03:18and help cocoa bean expert Steve Calpin unload his latest delivery.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22He's been here for over 40 years and has worked everywhere
0:03:22 > 0:03:26from the chocolate production line to the maintenance department.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31So, Steve, you pretty much are at the start
0:03:31 > 0:03:34of the whole chocolate bar process?
0:03:34 > 0:03:36This is where it all starts.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38The beans get driven in here, we process them,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40start making chocolate.
0:03:40 > 0:03:41Do you know how many beans are on this truck?
0:03:41 > 0:03:45I've never actually counted them but I think there'll be about 28 tonne.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48- Just short of 30 tonne? - Just short of 30 tonne.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Let me help you unload them.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52We've hooked it up to the electric, now what?
0:03:52 > 0:03:54We just need to push the button
0:03:54 > 0:03:56and start off-loading the beans into the system.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58- Can I press the button?- Yes.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Whey! That's an avalanche of beans!
0:04:04 > 0:04:07In just 24 hours, these beans will undergo
0:04:07 > 0:04:09an incredible transformation
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and leave York as finished chocolate bars.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17But their journey began thousands of miles away.
0:04:21 > 0:04:2790% of British chocolate begins life as cocoa beans in West Africa.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31The main harvest of pods from cocoa trees happens in March.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34Once the beans have been collected they're dried in the African sun
0:04:34 > 0:04:38for seven days and then packed and shipped to the UK.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43GREGG LAUGHS
0:04:43 > 0:04:46- It looks like a handful of grubby pebbles.- Yeah.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48So this has literally been transported
0:04:48 > 0:04:50- straight from the Ivory Coast. - Straight from the Ivory Coast.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53And these have dried by the road so they've got bits of grit in it...
0:04:53 > 0:04:58- They've got bits of grit...- Dirt. - Yeah. We've had shoes, snakes...
0:04:58 > 0:05:00- Really?- Yeah.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04'Now the beans begin a nonstop three-hour ride.'
0:05:05 > 0:05:07'The aim is to crack their hard outer shell
0:05:07 > 0:05:10'and release the cocoa-rich centre.'
0:05:10 > 0:05:11Come on.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14'But first, they need to be cleaned.'
0:05:15 > 0:05:18'Specially-sized holes in metal plates allow the beans
0:05:18 > 0:05:23'to fall through but capture larger pieces of rubbish on top.'
0:05:23 > 0:05:27It separates all the string and bits of rubbish.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28I get it.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32The beans you want drop through but anything bigger stays.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34- And that's the way.- Brilliant.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38But it's not just grit and rubbish that have hitched a ride
0:05:38 > 0:05:40over from Africa with the beans,
0:05:40 > 0:05:42sometimes there's treasure.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47I tend to get coins. Get yourself a drink.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Thanks, mate. Do I have to go to the Ivory Coast to buy one?
0:05:50 > 0:05:51To the Ivory Coast, yeah.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57Next up is the de-shelling.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00What happens here,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04we have a series of rollers in this machine here
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and as the beans go through, it crushes them
0:06:07 > 0:06:09and takes the shell off the nib.
0:06:09 > 0:06:15The nib in the centre of the bean is the Holy Grail of chocolate making.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18It contains all the cocoa solids and fats
0:06:18 > 0:06:20that are the basis of chocolate.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23- There you are, Gregg. - That's the nib?
0:06:23 > 0:06:24That's the nib.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31'The last remaining shell pieces are vacuumed off the nibs
0:06:31 > 0:06:37'and the clean ones are fed into three giant ovens...and roasted.'
0:06:38 > 0:06:40The temperature of the ovens
0:06:40 > 0:06:44is so critical to the recipe, it's kept a closely guarded secret.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49After an hour, the roasted nibs
0:06:49 > 0:06:51are fed into a giant food processor...
0:06:53 > 0:06:57..which transforms them into a thick brown liquid called liquor.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03The thing that's made it liquid like that
0:07:03 > 0:07:05is the fat that's come out of the nib.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08The same way that oil comes out of an olive,
0:07:08 > 0:07:10your fat's coming out of the chocolate nib?
0:07:10 > 0:07:12That's correct.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Have you added anything at all to this nib?
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Just a bit of love and care and attention.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20- We all need a bit of that, mate. - I know.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Eight tonnes of cocoa liquor is now piped
0:07:26 > 0:07:30from the bean processing plant to the factory next door.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Here they will turn the bitter thick liquid into hundreds of tonnes
0:07:34 > 0:07:36of sweet milk chocolate.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42First it needs to be mixed with the other ingredients.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Sean Conricode is the factory's chocolate specialist
0:07:45 > 0:07:49and has been the keeper of recipes for over 38 years.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53All those stainless steel vessels contain our liquid ingredients.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55So there's cocoa liquor, cocoa butter,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59vegetable fat and then we take all our dry ingredients so sugar...
0:07:59 > 0:08:02our milk component...are all fed across into this mixer.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12The result is a coarse, chocolaty powder
0:08:12 > 0:08:16churned out at a rate of nine tonnes an hour.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Conveyor belts drop the mixed ingredients
0:08:18 > 0:08:21into the top of a giant, heated blender, called a conch.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28'After seven to eight hours of mixing
0:08:28 > 0:08:31'those ingredients will be pumped out as liquid chocolate.'
0:08:31 > 0:08:34The smell in here - it's so strong.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36It's very distinctive.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38So that's the cooked aroma of chocolate I can smell.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42It's like consuming, it's like it's almost... Well, it's heady.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44It is. Smell is just as important as taste
0:08:44 > 0:08:48so the chocolate's got to smell right as well as taste right.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51'But what makes up that smell?
0:08:51 > 0:08:53'While I help Sean prepare the chocolate,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56'Cherry's in Reading to find out the secret
0:08:56 > 0:08:58'behind that unique chocolate aroma.'
0:09:05 > 0:09:07Yes, please, thank you.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10'Food scientist Ashleigh Stuart
0:09:10 > 0:09:14'spends hours every day sniffing chocolate.'
0:09:14 > 0:09:17You are a PhD student studying chocolate.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20- Is that the best job in the world? - Yeah, I think it could be.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25'Ashleigh thinks the reason we love chocolate so much is the smell.'
0:09:25 > 0:09:29If you try the chocolate dessert while you're holding your nose
0:09:29 > 0:09:32you shouldn't get very much flavour at all.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37It's got a great texture. I can taste that it's sweet.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40And then if you unblock your nose,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43- the flavour should suddenly hit you.- Oh, yeah.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46That's really good. Wow.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48'Like coffee or fine wine,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51'chocolate has hundreds of different smells
0:09:51 > 0:09:53'that make up the aroma we recognise.'
0:09:58 > 0:10:02To help me discover some of those individual smells,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Ashleigh has an instrument called an olfactometer
0:10:05 > 0:10:08that can separate them out.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10So you'll get all of the compounds individually
0:10:10 > 0:10:13rather than all in one go.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18'She gently warms the chocolate to release the smell molecules inside
0:10:18 > 0:10:19'and then captures them.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23'These smells are then fed through a tube one after another.'
0:10:23 > 0:10:25You should be able to smell some quite strange things.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Oh, there's something.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32That is really yummy, it's like...butter popcorn.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34That's really delicious.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40It's a little bit earthy...
0:10:40 > 0:10:41Moss?
0:10:41 > 0:10:44- Well, it's a mushroomy compound... - Oh, mushrooms.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Once you know, it's really obvious.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50Raw potato.
0:10:50 > 0:10:51- Yeah.- Yes.- Yeah, yeah.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54'These molecules are not added to the chocolate,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57'they're found naturally in the ingredients
0:10:57 > 0:11:00'and some of them aren't very pleasant.'
0:11:01 > 0:11:03I want to say burnt rubber.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Eurgh! What is that?!
0:11:08 > 0:11:10That is smelly feet.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14Like worse than after I've been to the gym smelly feet.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15Bleurgh!
0:11:15 > 0:11:17That one stinks. It's a very stinky cheese.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24In fact, the smell of chocolate is made up of a whole host
0:11:24 > 0:11:27of different molecules.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Nutty, popcorny, woody...
0:11:30 > 0:11:32And then you've got some of the horrible ones
0:11:32 > 0:11:34that you've just smelt, the cheesy, the sweaty feet.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36But they're all in there.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38And when you're smelling chocolate as a whole,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40all of those different smells are hitting it all at once
0:11:40 > 0:11:43and it's the combination that gives you the smell of chocolate.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45That's amazing.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49And that's the job of a chocolate maker,
0:11:49 > 0:11:53to design each part of their process so they release the different smells
0:11:53 > 0:11:58that combine to create the chocolate aroma we all love.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13After cooking in the conches for seven hours,
0:12:13 > 0:12:18the liquid chocolate is pumped out into giant vats.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22And I cannot wait to taste it.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27So that batch of chocolate will end up in this tank here.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29How many Kit Kats in here?
0:12:29 > 0:12:32This storage tank holds 28 tonnes of chocolate
0:12:32 > 0:12:34so you can make two million.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38That tank will empty and fill again today.
0:12:38 > 0:12:39Four million a day?
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Yeah. Put your sample jar under there and just unwind that.
0:12:45 > 0:12:46Whoa, whoa-whoa-whoa, how do I...?
0:12:47 > 0:12:50GREGG LAUGHS
0:12:52 > 0:12:54- And here we are.- Here we are.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04We've got 28 tonnes of liquid chocolate
0:13:04 > 0:13:07and a very happy, bald television presenter.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10- Fantastic. - Do you sell it by the pint?
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Unfortunately, we don't sell it by the pint,
0:13:12 > 0:13:13we sell it by the bar.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22They make 16 different chocolate recipes here at the factory,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24a different one for each product.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28But what I don't understand is, why do they bother?
0:13:28 > 0:13:33Why not just get one great recipe and use it for all of them?
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Vicky Geal is the senior confectioner
0:13:36 > 0:13:40in charge of developing new flavours and products.
0:13:40 > 0:13:41And she's going to show me
0:13:41 > 0:13:44why the chocolate recipe is so important.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Kit Kat chocolate is designed specifically for Kit Kat.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51What I've done here is made some with some different chocolates
0:13:51 > 0:13:53to prove that other chocolates do not work.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55What different chocolates?
0:13:55 > 0:13:57The first one, I've used a standard Kit Kat chocolate.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59The second one is a Yorkie chocolate
0:13:59 > 0:14:03and the third one is a competitor chocolate which I shall not name.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05See which you think's the best.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Well, I can't really taste the chocolate on this one.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Let me try the middle one.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21The chocolate's...creamier...
0:14:21 > 0:14:24rounded...deeper.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Let me try the last one.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31That's the Kit Kat, that's the original Kit Kat.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33- That is the original... - Whey-hey-hey!
0:14:33 > 0:14:36The insides are exactly the same on every product,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38it's just the chocolate that's changed.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41- You've made your point, Vicky. - There you go.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44In a delightful way. Let's have a hug.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49So, it turns out, even without realising it,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51we consumers expect a certain chocolate flavour
0:14:51 > 0:14:53to be on a particular bar.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57So to keep us happy, this factory uses a number
0:14:57 > 0:15:00of different chocolate recipes, each tailor-made
0:15:00 > 0:15:02for the product it's going to end up in.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12This 28 tonnes of melted chocolate
0:15:12 > 0:15:16is all going to end up making just one kind of chocolate bar.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20But Cherry's getting her hands dirty in Derbyshire
0:15:20 > 0:15:23to learn how you make a chocolate box
0:15:23 > 0:15:25full of many different varieties.
0:15:30 > 0:15:31I'm at Thornton's,
0:15:31 > 0:15:36the largest British-owned chocolate manufacturer in the country.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40They've been making chocolates for over 100 years
0:15:40 > 0:15:45and produce a colossal 25 million boxes every year.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Most of the chocolate made at Thornton's ends up
0:15:50 > 0:15:51in boxes like these.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55And while your first thought might be to scramble for your favourite one
0:15:55 > 0:15:57you might be surprised to know
0:15:57 > 0:16:00how much work goes into making each and every one.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Over 1,000 people work in this Derbyshire factory
0:16:05 > 0:16:07and today I'm getting stuck in too.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10You need to put four blocks in.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Operations manager, Nathan Worth,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14is teaching me to make a vanilla truffle.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16I don't think even I could eat all this in a day.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18Oh, I could easily.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20'The truffle begins with the centre
0:16:20 > 0:16:23'made from chocolate, sugar and butter.'
0:16:23 > 0:16:25And now we'll mix it for a few minutes.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Oh, wow.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35'100 kilos of filling needs to be handfed
0:16:35 > 0:16:38'into the start of the production line.'
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Oh, look at that massive blob.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44That's it, I think we're going to lose you in there in a minute.
0:16:44 > 0:16:45Bye.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47It's like Willie Wonka's chocolate factory.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49It's Willie Wonka without the Oompa-Loompas
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and the chocolate fountain, I'm afraid.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56'Then the mix is forced through a cutter,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59'slicing into more centres than I've ever seen.'
0:16:59 > 0:17:02How many of these are in one row?
0:17:02 > 0:17:05- So there's 16 rows on here.- 16 rows.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08And on this line, on this product we run 62 rows a minute.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14So, an hour on here we're making 55,000 chocolates an hour.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17In a week, we could be making up to 25 million.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21That is a staggering number of chocolates.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23Yeah, and I think I eat a large percentage of those
0:17:23 > 0:17:24while I'm working.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26I'm right there with you.
0:17:26 > 0:17:32The centre gets individually drizzled with a drape of chocolate.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34This is an enrober.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Enrobing is where we put a curtain of chocolate over the centres.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43So what we're doing is, we're drizzling the chocolate over.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45So instead of moulding it as a lot of people do,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48- we're actually coating the chocolate.- Wow.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55And the secret to perfect chocolate is a process called tempering.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59So we take chocolate at 45 degrees,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01cool that down to 25 degrees,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05heat it back up to 30 degrees to get the correct crystal structure.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09What would happen if you didn't heat up and cool the chocolate down?
0:18:09 > 0:18:13What you'd find is it'd start going white, go a little bit greasy,
0:18:13 > 0:18:17it wouldn't snap if it was a bar of chocolate and it wouldn't eat nice.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20So sometimes you'll see chocolate that's gone a little bit grey,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22that doesn't mean it's going mouldy,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25it just means the crystal structure has broken down
0:18:25 > 0:18:26and it's not how we want it to be.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Those grey bits are still perfectly safe to eat
0:18:30 > 0:18:32but to keep their chocolate looking its best
0:18:32 > 0:18:36all factories like this rely on their giant tempering machines.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39In this kind of machine here that's behind you,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41it's the workhorse of the factory
0:18:41 > 0:18:44but, actually, nobody ever really sees it.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Oh, no, it's the unsung hero of your factory.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53I appreciate you turbo ther...temper. NATHAN LAUGHS
0:18:53 > 0:18:55I appreciate you.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Once the first milk chocolate layer cools and sets,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03it's ready for a smothering of white chocolate.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13The vibrating conveyor belt shakes off the excess chocolate
0:19:13 > 0:19:17to make sure each one weighs exactly the same.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Wow. It's a river of chocolate.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25'But what comes next is the real magic.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29'Every one of the truffles is skilfully hand decorated,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32'with not a machine in sight.'
0:19:43 > 0:19:46CHERRY GASPS
0:19:46 > 0:19:47Oh, wow.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52It really is done by hand.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54No machinery at this point.
0:19:56 > 0:19:57And away you go.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Oh, that's really fun.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10- Oh, no, I messed it up. - No, no, they're fine. Very good.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Ah-ah. Got it. It goes really quick.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16- I missed one...- No problem.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18You're going to have to pick up my slack.
0:20:18 > 0:20:19That's no problem at all.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Do you think that people don't really appreciate
0:20:22 > 0:20:24how much work goes into a piece of chocolate?
0:20:25 > 0:20:27I think when people buy chocolates,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30they don't realise how much we do do here.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32I think they probably think a machine does this,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34- do you know what I mean?- Yes.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Look at you go. I mean, you're a demon.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Years of practice. Years of practice.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43- How long have you been doing this? - Well, I've worked here for 21 years.
0:20:43 > 0:20:4621 years. So you're a pro?
0:20:46 > 0:20:48I hope so by now.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Is it hard to be doing this and not take one?
0:20:52 > 0:20:55It's extremely hard and I'm a total chocoholic.
0:20:55 > 0:20:56I love it.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02One down but they're still 11 varieties short of a chocolate box
0:21:02 > 0:21:04so the team keep on going.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11I'm blown away by the effort to hand decorate the chocolate
0:21:11 > 0:21:15but I do worry for whoever has to pack them into boxes.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33It turns out this is the one area where even humans need a hand.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38A team of lightning-fast robots pack the chocolates into trays.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42The robots have laser-guided eyes
0:21:42 > 0:21:45that can tell the shape of each chocolate
0:21:45 > 0:21:47and where it is on the conveyor belt.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52They then rotate the chocolates to match them up exactly
0:21:52 > 0:21:54with the shape in the trays.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59This area last year did over 30 million finished boxes.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03And they can do it with absolute precision -
0:22:03 > 0:22:05over and over again.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Despite all the machinery and hi-tech robots,
0:22:19 > 0:22:24it still takes over a 100 people to make a box of chocolate
0:22:24 > 0:22:26like this one.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29So think about that next time you're squabbling
0:22:29 > 0:22:30over who gets the last one.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Later, I'll be back at Thornton's to reveal the secret
0:22:35 > 0:22:38of how they make Easter eggs hollow.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49Back in York, I've moved from the chocolate factory to wafers.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56Wafer line manager Mark Barratt has worked here for over 20 years.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58He used to make the chocolate, but for him now,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01the filling is more than just the middle, it's everything.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05What's better, chocolate or wafer?
0:23:05 > 0:23:07- Wafer.- Why?
0:23:07 > 0:23:09That's the beginning of it, that's the middle.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12If you don't get that great snap, you haven't got the bar.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14Do you think you might be turning into a bit of
0:23:14 > 0:23:15a chocolate bar anorak, Mark?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17I think I'm there. I've been there a while.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22What is the first step to making wafer?
0:23:22 > 0:23:27So we start off making a batter mix with flour and water
0:23:27 > 0:23:30and a few...few pretty special ingredients
0:23:30 > 0:23:32that we like to keep to ourselves.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Flour from giant silos outside is fed into the mixers.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41These mixers work around the clock,
0:23:41 > 0:23:45producing 40 kilos of batter every minute.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47But mixing all that is one thing.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49How on earth are you going to bake it all?
0:23:50 > 0:23:54You start by piping it into 100 hinged waffle irons
0:23:54 > 0:23:56called carriers.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59The top of the carrier shuts down.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04As it shuts down, the batter spreads and it fills the rectangle.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05Got ya.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Conveyor belts take the squashed batter squares
0:24:08 > 0:24:11directly into 100-foot-long ovens.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17After just two minutes at 150 degrees, the carriers leave
0:24:17 > 0:24:21the ovens, open up and spit out rich, golden wafers.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24- Oh!- There they are, popping out.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Mate, they're like carpet tiles or they're like lino tiles.
0:24:28 > 0:24:29Yeah.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Shall we have a look at one?
0:24:31 > 0:24:32There you go.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34It's like an enormous poppadom.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36It doesn't seem that crispy.
0:24:36 > 0:24:37No.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Sorry. I'll clean...I'll clean it up.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48To crisp up the wafers, they're fed into a cooling rack,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51snaking 30 feet into the air to save space.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Over an arch on the second floor.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Then back downstairs.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04After cooling, they come down that ski slope, come along here
0:25:04 > 0:25:08and then the filling is spread on top of the sheet.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14The sweet filling is made of cocoa liquor and sugar.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21It's like a perfectly precisely buttered piece of toast.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22That's right.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24The same level all the time, the same thickness.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Then the machine stacks one coated wafer
0:25:28 > 0:25:30on top of another coated wafer.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36OK. One, two, and then we've got some coming over the top
0:25:36 > 0:25:38which haven't got filling on.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45And the results, every five seconds, a perfectly lined-up square
0:25:45 > 0:25:50of two layers of filling sandwiched between three layers of wafer.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51Perfect every time?
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Perfect every time, yeah.
0:25:53 > 0:25:54Almost every time?
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Almost. HE LAUGHS
0:25:59 > 0:26:02A team of robots then stacks the wafers...
0:26:05 > 0:26:06..cuts them into blocks...
0:26:08 > 0:26:11..and then sends them off to be covered in chocolate.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17It's hard to imagine a time without our favourite chocolate bars,
0:26:17 > 0:26:19but where did they come from in the first place?
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Historian Ruth Goodman's been looking at chocolate's magic decade.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29One of the earliest memories we probably all share
0:26:29 > 0:26:31is visiting the sweet shop.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33It's usually the first time as children
0:26:33 > 0:26:36we get to spend our own money.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42But the chocolate bars we buy today are likely to be exactly
0:26:42 > 0:26:45the same as those that our parents bought, or our grandparents,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49even our great grandparents, when they were young.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54They all originate in the same amazing ten-year period.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Roald Dahl once likened it as "the chocolate equivalent of the
0:26:58 > 0:27:03"Italian Renaissance for painting." And that decade was the 1930s.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12The 1930s witnessed a huge social shift in British society.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Improved working conditions meant people had more time off.
0:27:17 > 0:27:23And this new concept of leisure time brought a shift in buying habits.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Until now, chocolate had been an expensive treat for the wealthy
0:27:27 > 0:27:30and mostly only bought on special occasions.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34In the '30s, cheaper manufacturing costs
0:27:34 > 0:27:37meant it could be made for a lot less.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Suddenly, 90% of the country could now afford
0:27:41 > 0:27:43to buy chocolate regularly.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50A new mass market had been created at the beginning of the decade
0:27:50 > 0:27:54and now it was up to the chocolatiers to feed it.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Amongst the first off the block was an American.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01In 1932, the Mars Bar caused quite a stir.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06A so-called combination bar,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09it added a core to the standard chunk of chocolate that
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Britain was used to.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13An American invention, they were considered
0:28:13 > 0:28:18low-rent and faddish by chocolate makers on this side of the Atlantic.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25But British consumers had other ideas and happily scoffed them up.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29The snobbery soon turned to envy as British manufacturers
0:28:29 > 0:28:32realised that they would have to respond.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36And so began what had been called "the chocolate wars."
0:28:36 > 0:28:40Terry's gave us the Chocolate Orange in 1932.
0:28:40 > 0:28:45Rowntree's responded with both the Aero and the Kit Kat in 1935.
0:28:45 > 0:28:51Cadbury's contribution was the Whole Nut and Roses in 1938.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55And Mars fought back with the Milky Way and Maltesers.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Suddenly the high street was choc-a-block with chocolate.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Chocolatiers knew that they couldn't rely just on their packaging
0:29:04 > 0:29:05to sell their bars.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07They needed to come up with some really
0:29:07 > 0:29:10imaginative advertising campaigns.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17"Where have you been to, sir?" she said.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22I've been York milking, my pretty maid.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26To entertain cinema audiences Rowntree's created a world first,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30an animated advert with synchronised sound.
0:29:30 > 0:29:31Ooh!
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Mr York's York.
0:29:33 > 0:29:34Isn't it lovely?
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Nothing like this had been tried before to sell a product.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44Not to be outdone, Cadbury's hit back.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46At seaside resorts across the country,
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Cadburys sent the chocolate mystery man.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51If you spotted him roaming the streets,
0:29:51 > 0:29:53you'd win a chocolaty prize.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56In an unprecedented move,
0:29:56 > 0:30:01Cadbury's even sent vans selling hot cocoa to busy public events.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03Chocolate was everywhere.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Their hard work paid off.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10By the end of the 1930s, Britain was the largest
0:30:10 > 0:30:13consumer of confectionary in the world.
0:30:15 > 0:30:21In the 1920s, the average Briton consumed 4oz
0:30:21 > 0:30:23of confectionary a week.
0:30:25 > 0:30:32By 1938, it had nearly doubled to a full 7oz...
0:30:33 > 0:30:36..and the difference was chocolate.
0:30:43 > 0:30:48Down through the generations we are still remarkably faithful
0:30:48 > 0:30:53to these original brands first invented in the chocolate decade.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Here in York, we've gone bean to liquor to chocolate.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15And now the filled wafers
0:31:15 > 0:31:19are arriving in the final production hall by the thousands.
0:31:25 > 0:31:26In this final stage,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29all the elements of the chocolate bar are put together.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Phil Ashley, factory quality manager, is going to show me how.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43Can you take me through the process?
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Yeah, certainly. So, you've seen how we've made wafer
0:31:46 > 0:31:48and you've seen how we make chocolate.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51Well, this is the plant where we put both wafer and chocolate together.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54The chocolate gets deposited into a mould.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56You can see on the mould here
0:31:56 > 0:31:59we have an impression on the bottom of the mould.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02So when the chocolate gets deposited on there
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and the bar finally gets de-moulded, you can see "Kit Kat" on the top.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09- Chocolate gets squirted in here? - Yes.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11It's travelling along. Then what happens?
0:32:11 > 0:32:13Then we put the wafer into the mould itself.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20And it's the job of Michelle Jarvis to load those wafers.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23Michelle's been working on this line for 12 years.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25- Can I come in?- Come on.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27- Could I have a go at this?- Yes.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31So, I've watched these wafers get made,
0:32:31 > 0:32:33I watched the chocolate being made.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38And now I want to put them in the machine,
0:32:38 > 0:32:40see the whole thing happening.
0:32:40 > 0:32:42Oh, oh, I can't...
0:32:42 > 0:32:44You pick them all up, the whole row.
0:32:47 > 0:32:48Pick them all up.
0:32:49 > 0:32:50- Like that.- Don't be ridiculous.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Go on. Your turn.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00- Yay!- Oh, yeah, baby! Oh, yeah, baby!
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Call me Mr Wafer.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05I'm leaving this to you and I'm going for tea.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08If these go down to nothing, am I in trouble?
0:33:08 > 0:33:09Yes. Bye!
0:33:10 > 0:33:12Don't do that, please.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14I'm not very confident.
0:33:14 > 0:33:15Ah!
0:33:18 > 0:33:19I've run out of biscuits!
0:33:21 > 0:33:23The filled wafers are cut to size
0:33:23 > 0:33:26and dropped into the moulds on top of the chocolate.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31You can now see the chocolate underneath the wafer.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33I don't know how the chocolate gets on top of the wafer.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36OK, so we're going to move further down the plant to show you that.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40Is that a laser at the end of that machine?
0:33:40 > 0:33:43It is, yeah. This is a very clever piece of equipment.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47This is the camera that's showing the wafers going through.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52When there's a wafer missing, it shows up there in a red light.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Yeah, it's just nabbed one.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59That's right. So now the machine knows exactly which bar that is.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Right at the end of the process then, it will reject that particular bar.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06What's it done, made a recording, like, row 12, seat 137?
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Exactly that. It's a computer, it'll remember all that information.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12There's a misdemeanour here, the chocolate mould thinks it's got away
0:34:12 > 0:34:16with it and it's going to get nabbed further on down the line there.
0:34:16 > 0:34:17That's right.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23This snack is gradually coming together.
0:34:23 > 0:34:24What's the next stage?
0:34:24 > 0:34:27OK, so now we put chocolate on the back of the bar.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30Chocolate comes down the pipe, gets deposited here...
0:34:31 > 0:34:33..and then just gets spread across the mould.
0:34:38 > 0:34:39That's a beautiful thing.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45- That's like a chocolate tide crashing onto a beach.- That's right.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53How come the chocolate doesn't stick to the mould?
0:34:53 > 0:34:56OK, well, that's the next important process.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58If you just want to take hold of that mould.
0:34:58 > 0:34:59Try and twist that.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04- No.- No, it's solid, it's hard plastic.
0:35:04 > 0:35:05If you look down here...
0:35:07 > 0:35:10..can you see how those moulds are being twisted on either side?
0:35:10 > 0:35:12Oh, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Like, twisting it one way at one end,
0:35:14 > 0:35:15- the other way at the other end. - Correct.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18That's very much how we would get ice cubes out of an ice cube mould.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20- Exactly, yeah.- Twisting it.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22Absolutely. Except this plastic's quite tough.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Does it have to be that horrible pink colour?
0:35:24 > 0:35:27It's pink so we can differentiate it with the chocolate.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31- So they're cool by now, aren't they? - They are, yes.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34They're cool and they're solid at this stage.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Give me a mould, I'll get them out.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39While I'm helping to de-mould,
0:35:39 > 0:35:43back at Thorntons in Derbyshire, Cherry is having a sugar rush.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55Easter is second only to Christmas for chocolate sales,
0:35:55 > 0:36:00and here at Thorntons they make over nine million eggs each year.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04'They've been making Easter eggs here since 1922,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07'but what I've wanted to know ever since I was a kid
0:36:07 > 0:36:10'is how on earth do they make them hollow?'
0:36:10 > 0:36:13What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
0:36:13 > 0:36:16- Well, when it comes to Easter eggs, it's actually the mould.- Oh.
0:36:16 > 0:36:17So what we do is...
0:36:17 > 0:36:22we have a mould that we're going to actually form the egg in.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26'Melted chocolate is squirted inside one half of the egg-shaped mould.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30'Then decorations are added.'
0:36:30 > 0:36:33We'll then put a second mould on top of the first.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36We'll put that into a magnetic frame and we'll put it onto
0:36:36 > 0:36:38one of these machines over here, called a spinner.
0:36:47 > 0:36:48Wow.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54So it's a chocolate wall installation.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56'The moulds are rotated in every direction
0:36:56 > 0:36:59'to thoroughly coat the inside with chocolate.'
0:36:59 > 0:37:03Because chocolate keeps setting, it'll steadily build up a layer
0:37:03 > 0:37:07of chocolate on the inside of that mould so it's really nice and even.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10That will give you that perfect hollow shell.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12'As the chocolate dries it sticks to the mould,
0:37:12 > 0:37:14'leaving a void in the middle.'
0:37:14 > 0:37:18So the machine mixes it around
0:37:18 > 0:37:21and around and around?
0:37:21 > 0:37:25Yeah. And then just let the chocolate move to the edges.
0:37:25 > 0:37:27It's easier to put it on a machine
0:37:27 > 0:37:29than stand there for 15 minutes doing that.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36So we've had hollow eggs for a long time.
0:37:36 > 0:37:37Has it always been done like this?
0:37:37 > 0:37:40It's always been done by a spinning movement.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44Right back in the early days when we first started doing hollow eggs.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49'Before the eggs leave the factory...'
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Ah, magic.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54'..Nathan gives me one of the nine million to try.'
0:37:57 > 0:37:58That's pretty good.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00That is hot off the press.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03You can't get a fresher Easter egg than that.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05- And it's definitely hollow.- Yeah.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09We've only got another 8,999,999 to go, then.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24Back here on the production line in York,
0:38:24 > 0:38:25the team are pumping out
0:38:25 > 0:38:293,000 two-fingered chocolate bars every minute.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34Before they're loaded on trucks to come your way,
0:38:34 > 0:38:36they need to be wrapped and packed.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40But not before a final inspection
0:38:40 > 0:38:44by quality control technician Julie Walker.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46What are you doing? You seem to be throwing chocolates away.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50We're picking off ones which are not of a good standard.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Do you know, they all look exactly the same to me.
0:38:53 > 0:38:54No, well they don't to us.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56What's wrong with that one?
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Well, we can see the wafer, so that's wafer reveal.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03- Apart from wafer reveal... - We have bubbles on the chocolate.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07Also, the chocolate is not as shiny as it normally is.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09Mate, you're being a little too fussy!
0:39:09 > 0:39:12Look, I'm a customer, all right?
0:39:12 > 0:39:14- It doesn't bother me.- Right.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16How much of a chocolate geek have you become?
0:39:16 > 0:39:17Well, if I went on Mastermind,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20I reckon I could get through that quite easily.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23- Specialist subject - the Kit Kat. - Yes.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25What happens to all of the ones you're throwing away?
0:39:25 > 0:39:29They all go into rework where they're used for the fillings for the wafers.
0:39:29 > 0:39:30What's the wafer filling?
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Well, as you can see here, we have a wafer...
0:39:33 > 0:39:34Oh, in between the wafers?
0:39:34 > 0:39:36- Yes, that's right.- I saw that put on.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38- Right, OK.- Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK, brilliant.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42- Now do you understand that? - Brilliant.- Right, good.- Brilliant.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45It's incredible that we've got all this hi-tech machinery,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48yet you and I are picking out defunct Kit Kats by hand.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Because machinery is not perfect either, is it?
0:39:51 > 0:39:55I suppose you're right. The only time I've ever stared at anything
0:39:55 > 0:39:57and seen no defect at all is the shaving mirror.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01SHE LAUGHS I won't comment on that.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09It is incredible how many chocolate bars are being produced here
0:40:09 > 0:40:11with so few people.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15As hi-tech as all this seems, they've actually been making
0:40:15 > 0:40:17chocolate here for over 100 years,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20but back then the factory floor would have looked
0:40:20 > 0:40:22very, very different.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31In the shadow of the modern factory, there's a monument
0:40:31 > 0:40:33to chocolate-making past.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40This is the old Rowntree's factory in York.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42It was acquired by Nestle in 1987,
0:40:42 > 0:40:46and there was so much rich history that they appointed a dedicated
0:40:46 > 0:40:49Rowntree historian - Alex Hutchinson - to preserve
0:40:49 > 0:40:52its significant past.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54I've been given access to the old site
0:40:54 > 0:40:58and its archives to discover just why it's so special.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00In comparison to other factories at the time,
0:41:00 > 0:41:01was this a good one, a bad one?
0:41:01 > 0:41:03This was a good one. This was a very good one.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Everybody wanted to work for Rowntree's. Very good pensions.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09If you were ill, there was a doctor. If you needed a dentist,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11you could see a dentist. And they would look after you.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13They would look after you very, very well indeed.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16The Rowntrees were Quakers,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20a religious society formed in England in the 17th century.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24The highly moral Quaker grocers were trusted to produce
0:41:24 > 0:41:26unadulterated chocolate.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28TRAIN TOOTS
0:41:30 > 0:41:33And so a handful of these Quaker families became the
0:41:33 > 0:41:35top chocolate makers in Britain.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39Birmingham had Cadbury's, Bristol had Fry's
0:41:39 > 0:41:42and York had Rowntree's.
0:41:42 > 0:41:43The Rowntree family are Quaker.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Do you think that made a difference to how they did business?
0:41:46 > 0:41:47Very much so.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49They wanted to treat their workers like they were family.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52They didn't want to view them as cogs in a machine.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56To improve their workers' lives, the Rowntree family designed
0:41:56 > 0:42:00a factory that was bright and airy and chock-full of perks.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04You've got your theatre, library, ballroom,
0:42:04 > 0:42:10sports grounds and, of course, there's a sick pay, paid holiday.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12The wage packet was quite healthy too.
0:42:14 > 0:42:15What was it like in production,
0:42:15 > 0:42:18inside that factory when it was at full bustle?
0:42:18 > 0:42:23# Pack all your troubles in your old kitbag and smile... #
0:42:23 > 0:42:25It would have been noisy, you'd have rows and rows of girls
0:42:25 > 0:42:28with piping bags full of liquid chocolate,
0:42:28 > 0:42:30hand-piping chocolates.
0:42:30 > 0:42:32'There's no girl like a Yorkshire girl for dexterity and quickness
0:42:32 > 0:42:35'in squeezing out the swirls of rich chocolate.'
0:42:35 > 0:42:37And then you'd have had men coming in and out with
0:42:37 > 0:42:40sack barrows, collecting boxes full of finished products
0:42:40 > 0:42:43and taking them off to the railways to go all over the world.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49The welfare pioneered in the chocolate factories was soon adopted
0:42:49 > 0:42:50across Britain.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53While the founding members of the Rowntree family may have
0:42:53 > 0:42:57passed on, the community they created lasted for generations.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02I want to meet the people who lived and worked here
0:43:02 > 0:43:04to hear for myself what life was really like.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09Bernice and Eddie Atkinson worked here for over 40 years.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12They married in 1957.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14So you met on the same production line?
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Well, I was what they used to call a "material server,"
0:43:17 > 0:43:19being straight from school,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21- and she worked on the conveyor packing.- Packing.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24We'd get talking and that's... that's how you meet.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27And the first time I saw him, he was little...
0:43:27 > 0:43:30- I still am. - ..with rosy cheeks, small.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34And I said to somebody, "I'd love to take him to bed and cuddle him,"
0:43:34 > 0:43:38cos he was like a teddy bear... Never dreaming I would years later.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40RUTH LAUGHS I enjoyed it all.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42I loved working in the factory.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48Alex has uncovered some film archive with a surprise for Bernice
0:43:48 > 0:43:52and Eddie, so I've arranged a special viewing in the old factory.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54- Oh.- Oh, God.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58That goes in there and that fondant comes on top, and that sets,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02and then it goes to them rollers to get covered with chocolate.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04Aye, it was marvellous how they did it.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08They did that day in, day out, hours on end.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10- Right up until...- Yeah. - ..the 1980s.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12I wouldn't have liked that.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14- No.- Definitely not.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16That's all you were doing all the time, making the cardboard
0:44:16 > 0:44:18cartons for Black Magic.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20Now, that would have been monotonous.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22- That's it. Them were the jobs you did.- I know you did.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27At its height, the Rowntree's factory even had
0:44:27 > 0:44:31its own railway station to shift the huge numbers of products
0:44:31 > 0:44:32and workers.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36After moving off the production line,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Eddie became a supervisor of the Rowntree's delivery trains.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45- Who's that there?- Who's that? - I think that's me.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47- That's you?- I think so, yeah.- It is!
0:44:47 > 0:44:49- What, with the shunting pole? - Yeah. Yeah, that's me, yeah.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51- That is you.- Yeah. Film star.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01But, by the late 1980s, consumer demand for cheaper chocolate
0:45:01 > 0:45:04saw the beginning of the end for the old ways.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07The more labour-intensive parts of the production lines
0:45:07 > 0:45:09were replaced with mechanised systems and machines
0:45:09 > 0:45:13capable of churning out chocolates by the millions.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16Before retiring, Eddie and Bernice
0:45:16 > 0:45:19were amongst the last to make chocolate the old way.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21But the sense of welfare began by the Quakers
0:45:21 > 0:45:25has left a lasting mark on the British workplace.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31The way we make chocolate may well have changed,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34but the legacy of those early chocolate makers lives on.
0:45:34 > 0:45:40# And smile, smile, smile. #
0:45:46 > 0:45:50Here at Nestle, we're 21 hours into the chocolate-making process.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56And we've already got millions of chocolate bars ready to be eaten.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00But before that can happen, they need packing up.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05In this factory, 3.5 million of these chocolate bars
0:46:05 > 0:46:08need to be individually wrapped every day.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16First, it's the foil wrap.
0:46:21 > 0:46:22And then the paper.
0:46:24 > 0:46:2627 feet are used every second.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Then they're bundled into multipacks.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Ex-army man Scott Robinson gives the bars
0:46:42 > 0:46:46one last inspection before they're packed into boxes
0:46:46 > 0:46:48with military precision.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54Why, with all this machinery, are we packing them by hand?
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Because, er, we can actually...
0:46:57 > 0:46:58We get a better quality finish.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01People can see anything that's gone wrong.
0:47:01 > 0:47:02Machines can go, you can have sensors,
0:47:02 > 0:47:05but they won't feel or see things that are not right.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08- Can I have a go?- Yeah. Feel free.
0:47:08 > 0:47:09Come on, down you come!
0:47:09 > 0:47:11Here we go now, lovely.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15- Like that?- Fold it that way now.
0:47:15 > 0:47:16- Ah, quick!- Push it through there.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19That's it, nice and gently. Make sure it's square.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21I ain't got time to do it gently. Right.
0:47:21 > 0:47:22'It's not as easy as it looks.'
0:47:22 > 0:47:24Oh, my gawd.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27For crying out loud, we've got an avalanche happening here.
0:47:27 > 0:47:29- How many do you lift at a time? - Five.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31What, have you go got hands like a bear?
0:47:31 > 0:47:32I'm just lucky. I have, yeah.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Oh, that's it(!) Just dump another load at the front, make it harder.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37SCOTT LAUGHS
0:47:37 > 0:47:40This is actually physically quite challenging.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42- It is.- Do you dream about it?
0:47:42 > 0:47:44Uh, not any more.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46Stop 'em, they're going to roll off the end.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48The box really slows you down.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53So they've sold the whole principle on this on having a break,
0:47:53 > 0:47:54yet me and you don't get one.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57There's a bit of an irony there, don't you think so, Scott?
0:47:57 > 0:47:58Yeah, you need it.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00Panic's setting in here.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04- GREGG LAUGHS - You have to come and help me, mate.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07- I can't get them done quick enough, look.- Give it a go, then.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09- I've tried my best, Scott. - Yeah, you've done well.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16While Scott shows me how it's done, Cherry's off to meet an expert
0:48:16 > 0:48:21chocolatier to find out why we're so patriotic about our chocolate.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28Chocolate has been our favourite sweet treat for over 200 years.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33But it's not imported chocolate we buy the most of.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35The top three selling brands in the UK -
0:48:35 > 0:48:40Dairy Milk, Kit Kat and Snickers - are all made right here.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43So what is it about British chocolate
0:48:43 > 0:48:47that we all find so irresistible?
0:48:47 > 0:48:51To find out, I've come to meet master chocolatier Paul A Young.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54He's won many awards for making chocolates
0:48:54 > 0:48:56with a uniquely British flavour.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01I feel like I'm meeting chocolate royalty.
0:49:01 > 0:49:07You are definitely the most qualified person to answer this.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11Why do we love British chocolate so much?
0:49:11 > 0:49:13- It makes us really happy. - It does!- It does.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15It makes me so happy.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18It's not just the sugar - it's the feeling, the texture,
0:49:18 > 0:49:23the nostalgic reminiscence of childhood of when you first had it.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26Hand anyone chocolate and they'll smile.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29'These days, we have the choice of chocolate from any country
0:49:29 > 0:49:33'we like, but yet we still choose British.'
0:49:33 > 0:49:37What is it about foreign chocolate that just doesn't sit right with us?
0:49:37 > 0:49:40We are tuned to love British chocolate from being very young,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42but there are chocolates from all around the world.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46America, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, France, you name it,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48and it's all specifically different
0:49:48 > 0:49:50and tailored to the palate of the country.
0:49:50 > 0:49:56So it seems we all hanker after the chocolate we ate as children.
0:49:56 > 0:49:58But can we really taste the difference
0:49:58 > 0:50:00between British and foreign brands?
0:50:02 > 0:50:06Paul and I are going to put the Great British public to the test.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08We're going to take four different chocolates
0:50:08 > 0:50:12from four different countries and see which one people prefer.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17But first, we need to melt down the chocolates and reset them
0:50:17 > 0:50:21in the same shape to make sure they all look the same.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24So they all look the same
0:50:24 > 0:50:26and no-one will be able to tell which one is which.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28- They won't...- Mwa-ha-ha. - ..it's a secret.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35Milk chocolate is made up of cocoa, sugar and milk,
0:50:35 > 0:50:39but the proportions can vary according to its country of origin.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45We've got four varieties of milk chocolate.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49So we've got Belgian, American, British and Swiss.
0:50:49 > 0:50:55The Swiss is very, very milky, incredibly smooth, light colour.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58I think most people would say, "That's a nice milky chocolate."
0:50:58 > 0:50:59Hmm.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02At the opposite end of the spectrum is the American.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05Eurgh! I mean, it is...
0:51:06 > 0:51:09This is probably the biggest-selling American chocolate.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12So, what is it that gives it that - to be polite -
0:51:12 > 0:51:15distinctive flavour and taste?
0:51:15 > 0:51:17It's the milk crumb, and they've manipulated it
0:51:17 > 0:51:18to create butyric acid.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23That gives it the cheesy, sour, really off smell and taste to us.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27And did you know that butyric acid is a component of vomit?
0:51:27 > 0:51:29Oh, that's not OK!
0:51:29 > 0:51:30It's not OK for me.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32Do you think most people would be able to tell
0:51:32 > 0:51:35the difference between these four types of chocolate?
0:51:35 > 0:51:37I think they will, and I think the British chocolate
0:51:37 > 0:51:38will be the most popular.
0:51:41 > 0:51:42But will Paul be right?
0:51:42 > 0:51:46With all the chocolates cleverly disguised, we're taking to the
0:51:46 > 0:51:50streets to see if people really do prefer British chocolate.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56Hi, is there any way that we could tempt you to try some chocolate?
0:51:56 > 0:51:57Yeah?
0:51:57 > 0:51:59We're doing a taste test.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02- Yeah, shall we?- Yes!- Do you want to try some before your main course?
0:52:02 > 0:52:05First, they try the American version.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07- Erm...- No? You don't like that?
0:52:07 > 0:52:10- There's an aftertaste.- There is. - What is the aftertaste?
0:52:10 > 0:52:12Oh, wow, like off milk.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15And it seems that American chocolate isn't a hit with British
0:52:15 > 0:52:17taste buds anywhere we go.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19I'm not particularly impressed with that.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21It's got this really bitter taste to it.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23It's actually a bit sicky.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26It's too... It's not nice.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31'In fact, out of the four - American, British, Belgian and Swiss -
0:52:31 > 0:52:34'it was the British chocolate that came out the winner.'
0:52:36 > 0:52:38It's just a different texture. It's creamier.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40That's a bit more, like... More, like...
0:52:40 > 0:52:42A bit more Dairy Milk chocolate kind of taste.
0:52:42 > 0:52:43Mmm, it's nice.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45'From garages...
0:52:47 > 0:52:48'..to hairdressers.'
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Creamier than the first and second one.
0:52:51 > 0:52:52Really smooth, really rich.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55That's very creamy, I think. Hmm.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58- We have a winner on our hands. - Yes!- Really?
0:52:58 > 0:53:00- That is the British chocolate. - Well done.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07So, obviously, people still love British chocolate,
0:53:07 > 0:53:08but no-one's picked American.
0:53:08 > 0:53:09No-one's picked American.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14We did find some people who like American chocolate...
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Americans.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20MUSIC: US National Anthem
0:53:21 > 0:53:23Oh.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27I'm going to have to change all of my answers.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29That's definitely American.
0:53:30 > 0:53:31That's my favourite.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34It's just sort of, like, bringing home to you
0:53:34 > 0:53:36versus you having to go home.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38It doesn't taste fake to me,
0:53:38 > 0:53:40and that's why I think it's pretty great.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44Whether we want a bar to treat ourselves, or as a comfort,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47we know what we like and we like the familiar,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51but it's those childhood memories that keep us Brits so loyal
0:53:51 > 0:53:53to the chocolate that we love.
0:54:01 > 0:54:0522 hours after the beans first came on site,
0:54:05 > 0:54:08the wrapped chocolate bars are now ready for customers.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16A team of 30-foot-high robots now stack them onto pallets.
0:54:23 > 0:54:26And conveyor belts take them to a warehouse to await distribution.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32But, with four million chocolate bars to deal with every day,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35this is no ordinary warehouse.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38Distribution manager Sally Wright has let me inside.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42Oh, my word!
0:54:52 > 0:54:54Crying out loud.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02I didn't realise this much chocolate actually existed in the world.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05Good grief.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07GREGG LAUGHS
0:55:07 > 0:55:10- What do you call this place? - This is the building.
0:55:10 > 0:55:11- "The building?"- The building.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Occupying the land space of two football pitches
0:55:18 > 0:55:21and towering eight storeys high,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25every single pallet of chocolate is stored, monitored
0:55:25 > 0:55:28and moved by robots.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34Once the stock's been fed into "the building"
0:55:34 > 0:55:36by the conveyor belts,
0:55:36 > 0:55:39the humans no longer have any control over what happens to it.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43We don't have human's controlling it.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45We don't have fork truck drivers in here.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48The building knows where all the empty spaces are,
0:55:48 > 0:55:49where all the stock is.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52When we have orders, it knows where to go and get the stock.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55When we have fresh stock coming in, it knows where to put it away.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57It self controls.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01- The building runs itself? - Pretty much so, yeah.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04We watch over it with a computer system,
0:56:04 > 0:56:06but ultimately, it self manages.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10From the moment the chocolate comes into the building,
0:56:10 > 0:56:15the five giant unmanned cranes stack the pallets, store them,
0:56:15 > 0:56:19and then send them to the loading area when the orders come in.
0:56:19 > 0:56:20Do humans get in those?
0:56:20 > 0:56:22The engineers do, yeah.
0:56:22 > 0:56:25- Could I have a ride on one of them? - Yes, we can arrange that.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32Whoa!
0:56:32 > 0:56:33Wahey-hey-hey!
0:56:34 > 0:56:37- HE LAUGHS - Wahey!
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Whoooa!
0:56:43 > 0:56:46Whoa! Ha-ha!
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Will it stop before the wall at the end?
0:56:48 > 0:56:51- It may do. - GREGG LAUGHS
0:56:51 > 0:56:55MUSIC: Song 2 by Blur
0:56:55 > 0:56:56This is nuts!
0:56:59 > 0:57:01All that to give us a chocolate bar?
0:57:01 > 0:57:02Yeah.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04It's a strange world.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Wahey-hey-hey!
0:57:06 > 0:57:08GREGG LAUGHS
0:57:11 > 0:57:14It takes the building just one week to get through
0:57:14 > 0:57:16its entire stock of chocolate.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21Every day, up to 60 trucks are loaded
0:57:21 > 0:57:23from the dispatch hall at this site...
0:57:25 > 0:57:29..and leave York with chocolate destined for shops and supermarkets
0:57:29 > 0:57:31all over the UK and Ireland.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37So next time you open a bar of chocolate, just think,
0:57:37 > 0:57:44it is one very small part of an enormous, global chocolate empire.
0:57:44 > 0:57:45Wow.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52'Next time, I'll be taking you inside one of the largest
0:57:52 > 0:57:54'fresh milk processing plants on earth.'
0:57:54 > 0:57:57I've never seen anything like this, ever.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00'I'll meet the people and the robots...'
0:58:00 > 0:58:02Come on, come on.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04HE LAUGHS
0:58:04 > 0:58:08'..who get the milk from cow to carton in as little as 24 hours.'
0:58:08 > 0:58:09Mate, I love this.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11I absolutely love it.
0:58:11 > 0:58:12Wow.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15'And Cherry will lift the lid...'
0:58:15 > 0:58:17Oh, whoa! Eurgh!
0:58:17 > 0:58:19Looks like scrambled eggs.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22'..on how you produce cheese on an epic scale.'
0:58:22 > 0:58:26Tasting cheese all day, I am happy as Larry.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29'You'll never look at milk in the same way again.'