Pascall (company)

Pascall is an Australian and New Zealand confectionery brand owned by Mondelēz International. Originally, the company started as James Pascall, a British manufacturer of sugar confectionary in 1866. In 1923, Pascalls joined forces with Cadbury and its sister business J. S. Fry & Sons to setup a factory in Tasmania to build a factory to produce all three companies products. The original British firm was purchased by Beecham Group in 1959 and was merged with its existing confectionery firm R S Murray. The Pascall Murray business was purchased by Cadbury in 1964, but the remnants of the UK Pascall business was sold to Tangerine Confectionery in 2008.

Original company

James Pascall was born Croydon in 1838, the son of a baker and confectioner.[1] Pascall initially worked as a salesman for Cadbury, but in 1866 he set up a small shop in Wells Street off Oxford Street with his brother Alfred.[2][1] The company moved to a larger site in Valentine Place on Blackfriars Road in 1877,[1] which was extended in 1889,[3] while in 1888 they started building an additional factory at Streatham Road, Mitcham.[4] A large section of the Blackfriars site burnt down on 1 October 1897,[5] and a new factory was designed by the architect W. H. Woodroffe to replace it.[6] Pascall told Robert W. Bowers in his book Sketches of Southwark Old and New in 1902, that rival manufacturers offered voluntary assistance and even offered to delay work.[5]

The business was formally incorporated on the 11 June 1898 as James Pascall Ltd.[4] Pascall was a liberal employee, with staff normally working 8 hours a day, considerably less thsn the Factory Act allowed at the time.[5] During a sugar shortage in 1917, Pascalls produced a pink candy laced with antiseptic on behalf of the government for bee keepers to feed their bees,[7] while they joined the Bribery and Secrets Commission Prevention League in the same year.[8] In 1919, the company presented a cheque for £175 1s 6d to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, the profits earned from the pink bee candy as promised in 1917, which as per the agreement was given to the charity, the Gardeners Royal Benevolent Association.[9]

Australian and New Zealand

Pascall products were first produced in Australia as a joint venture between the Cadbury Brothers and James Pascall at the Cadbury factory in Tasmania in 1923.[10] In 1938, Pascall products commenced production in New Zealand.

In 1981, Australian Pascall production moved from Tasmania to Melbourne.[11] In New Zealand, most of the products produced by Pascall were made at their own factory in Avondale, Auckland until December 2009, when the factory was closed down and production moved to the Cadbury factory in Dunedin and to factories in Australia and Thailand. The response to the changes has not been popular with New Zealanders, claiming that the Thai made Minties are much softer and do not taste the same.[12]

Current products

• Barley Sugar
• Butter Scotch
• Caramels
• Clinkers
• Eclairs
• Explorers (formerly "Eskimos")[13]
• Fruit Bon Bons
• Fruit Bursts
• Jellies
• Jubes
• Hokey Pokey Lumps
• Licorice Allsorts
• Marshmallows
• Memorables
• Minties (in New Zealand)
• Mints
• Milk Bottles
• Party Pack
• Pineapple Lumps
• Snifters Lumps[14]
• Wine Gums

• Fruit Allsorts
• Milkshakes
• Jaffa Lumps

Former products

• Columbines
• Country Mints
• JayBees
• Mr Beans
• Pebbles
• Snifters
• Sparkles
• Swirls
• Tangy Fruits
• White Heather {Chocolate & Toffee selection sold in the UK from 1866-1969}
• Blackberries & Raspberries
• Liquorice Chews, Spearmint Chews, Chocolate Chews

External links

• Cadbury Australia - Pascall
• Pascall New Zealand