The heir to the Cadbury confectionery fortune once appeared on BBC’s Dragon’s Den to sell a stake in his own chocolate business after not receiving any financial backing from his family.
The great-grandfather of James Cadbury, John, is the inventor of Cadbury chocolate — a company which is now worth an estimated £4.6 billion.
However, in a recent interview with The Sun, the 37-year-old heir has revealed that his pockets aren’t exactly 'lined with money'.
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He stated: “Because I've got the Cadbury name, people probably think my pockets are lined with money.
“But, because my ancestors were Quakers and philanthropists, they gave a lot of money back.
“They didn't believe in creating wealth for the family and for generations so, instead, they put the money into different charities.”
He also added that the family used to own 'lots of land in Birmingham' which was eventually handed over to the National Trust.
As Cadbury was bought by Kraft Foods in 2010, James ended up creating his own luxury chocolate business, Love Cocoa, in 2016.
“I really had no experience or any help from my family,” he said.
Instead, it’s reported that he applied for a £25,000 loan with Virgin StartUp - which has now been paid back in full.
Three years ago, James tried to flog a stake in the company via Dragon’s Den after being approached by BBC producers.
Regarding the appearance he said: “We did get a couple of offers and we did do a deal with Tej [Lalvani] but there's a lot of back and forth which goes on off-screen, so after negotiations, we decided that it was not something we wanted to do.
“But we left on really good terms with Tej and, after it got aired, we got lots of publicity."
The entrepreneur said that after rejecting the Dragon’s bid, Love Cocoa ended up tripling revenue and even picked up a few new stockists, too.
“It was really big for us and ever since that, we’ve continued to be able to grow. It’s a great programme to go on - it’s definitely helped the business. We’re 10 times the size now,” he said.
Despite coming from a billion-pound family, James has stated that no other Cadbury’s have gone into chocolate.
“A lot of people say that chocolate must be in the blood,” he added.
“But there are no other family members, as far as I’m aware, who have gone into chocolate, so I’m the first which is super exciting!”
Topics: BBC, Food And Drink, News, Business
Ella Scott