Cadbury owner Mondelēz International today announced its plan to move manufacturing to Australia, with the loss of 350 jobs in Dunedin.
In a statement the company said it remained committed to Cadbury World, which attracts 110,000 visitors a year.
It did not specify how the attraction, which features a chocolate waterfall and tours of the chocolate making process, would be affected by the closure.
"The company is ready to invest in redevelopment work to make Cadbury World an even better visitor experience," Amanda Banfield, Area Vice-President for Australia, New Zealand and Japan, said in a statement.
The company signalled in January a future expansion of Cadbury World.
A final decision on the proposed redevelopment of Cadbury World would be made by April.
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If Cadbury owners expect me to continue buying their product they are "dreaming mate". As for the expectation for Cadbury World to remain operative - what world do they live in? Buying Jaffas made in Aussie - WHAT?
Maybe we can annually roll some australian executives down Baldwin street. That would bring the crowds out.......
It is a very sad day for all the Cadbury workers and also Dunedin as there are many businesses who rely on work at the site .My heart goes out to you all. Why is Cadbury world remaining open ? and if the Dunedin Site is the most efficient in Australasia as quoted by Ms Banfield then why close a perfectly good production site . Cadbury Chocolate will continue to get worse as the milk used is NZ milk and tastes totally different to Australia , I for one will not purchase Cadbury again.
Don't hold your breath on this one when people find out they can't tour the factory and actually see chocolate being made it will probably fade into the sunset fairly quickly.
They closed the Australian factory tours in 2015 with the loss of 15 jobs. So now we are to be told they will have factory tours in Dunedin without the factory?
Oh, that'll work... a chocolate factory tour in a.... derelict building? Yeah, right. How about it just be turned into a 5* hotel? The architect could replace it with an ugly boxy building and no-one would turn a hair. Win win!