Cadbury halts production after water shortages
A Mondelēz spokesman said that water supplier Severn Trent had confirmed it was in the process of restoring the water supply to Cadbury Bournville.
“We therefore aim to have all production back up and running over the next 24 hours. Our supply of chocolate has not been impacted, as some production continued overnight and we have sufficient product in stock.
“The rest of our supply chain, including logistics, has operated as business as usual. Employees will return to work on the site from today.”
Beast from the East
Burst water pipes in the aftermath of last week’s cold spell – nicknamed the ‘Beast from the East’ – prompted engineers from Severn Trent to work throughout the night to restore supplies.
“We even worked with a handful of businesses that use a lot of water, such as Jaguar Land Rover and Cadbury, to limit their usage during yesterday afternoon and evening,” said Severn Trent.
“This allowed us to keep water supply on for our household customers and our vulnerable customers, including hospitals in the area like the Queen Elizabeth, City and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.”
The water supplier thanked the companies for their support and was able to put supply back on for those businesses last night (Monday 5 March).
Supplies restored
Severn Trent said all supplies had been restored overnight, but there could be pressure problems until the network was back to normal.
The ‘Beast from the East’ caused disruption for the food and agricultural sector, leading to panic-buying at some supermarkets, leaving shelves empty as consumers feared the worst.
A number of manufacturers took to microblogging site Twitter to inform customers that they would be unable to make deliveries, including the Fine Food Company, Bidfood UK and Trewithen Dairy.
Meanwhile, Cadbury chocolate bars could be removed from National Health Service hospitals, after suppliers delisted the products following a disagreement on price.
