Where to find original Cadbury chocolate in Seattle – and why it’s so hard to find
Anyone who knows Cadbury chocolate will attest that the American version tastes like pants, to quote the lady who answered the phone yesterday at the British Pantry, a lunch and sundries shop near Seattle.
It is imposter chocolate, according to just about every expat who is either British or from a country that was colonized by the Brits. It is sludgy and cloying, with an unpleasant gritty aftertaste.
So, where to find the imported stuff if you live in Seattle? Scroll down for the list.
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Imported Cadbury chocolate isn’t easy to find by design. In 1988, The Hershey Company acquired the U.S. Cadbury license, entitling them to be the sole distributor of the chocolate on this side of the pond.
Rather than import the original, which would presumably be impractical, they developed their own recipe. U.K. Cadbury lists milk as its first ingredient; the American version lists sugar.
Higher end stores leaned on importers to bring over the original, but that became trickier when Hershey successfully sued an import company in 2015.
That import company, LBB (Let’s Buy British) Imports still sells Cadbury, but not the staples, like the Dairy Milk bar.
Town & Country Markets in Washington state buys Cadbury through LBB Imports, according to Dwight Richmond, director of center store. The importer plays it safe now, selling holiday-specific items, and only seasonally.
“A fair amount of expats from the U.K. and other countries want that product specifically for the holidays,” Richmond said.
Cadbury does sell its UK chocolate on Amazon, which some might find surprising. Richmond was unfazed.
“It’s an open marketplace,” Richmond explained. “They can’t regulate it because it’s a free market. They can sell to whoever they want, wherever they want. We could buy it from Amazon, but that’s not practical for us.”
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Town & Country Markets may be getting Cadbury through an Italian importer soon, one that could deliver the chocolate year-round. Richmond said that Hershey could balk, but it might not be worth their while — it’s such low volume. Plus, Hershey might be watching for how well a more modern item sells, and then incorporate that into its Cadbury portfolio.
Here's a list of shops that sell imported Cadbury chocolate:
SEATTLE
Husky Deli (West Seattle)
4721 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116
World Market (Downtown)
2103 Western Ave, Seattle, WA 98121
EASTSIDE
British Pantry (Redmond)
Amazon sells the Hershey version as well, so be sure to read the fine print.
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Isolde Raftery
Online Managing Editor
Isolde Raftery has been the investigations editor at KUOW since 2022. Previously, she was the station's online managing editor.
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