Discover our new Cutting-Edge Chocolate Hub in Bournville!

Monday, July 28, 2025

Following a £3.3 million investment, Mondelēz International has opened a new state-of-the-art Consumer Research Centre in Bournville, the heart of its global chocolate Research & Development (R&D). Home to over 50 trained chocolate tasters and equipped with cutting-edge tech, the centre plays a key role in developing the next generation of products for iconic brands like Cadbury, Milka, and Toblerone. Beyond tasting, it’s a collaborative space where science, innovation, and consumer insight come together, offering a unique and meaningful place to work for those passionate about shaping the future of snacking.

This month, we interviewed Carolin Robbins, Scientist in the Consumer Science team, to tell us more about this new exciting working place.

What makes the new facility an inspiring place to work, beyond just the chocolate?

Our new Consumer Research Facility is such a great place to work with all the new technology we have there, including Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, the improved recording capability we have, being able to zoom in on a product/consumer in the moment. Knowing that the Sensory facility and Consumer is all under one roof. This is a 1st in the UK.

Who mainly work in this facility, and what makes you the most excited about working in this new lab?

Consumer Science will use the Facility every day, however it will be used by all our R&D colleagues at some point. I am extremely excited to be working with the new recording technology in our Observation Rooms. When product developers want to come and observe a panel creating the sensory language for their project, they will be able to watch any particular part of the training process with clarity.

Chocolate Taster sounds like a dream job, what skills or traits do you look for in a taster, and how often do you recruit them?

Chocolate tasting is the stuff that dreams are made from. Who ever thought, when they were sitting at school, they’d at some point in their life, be paid for tasting chocolate.

There are no particular skills that you need other than articulation and being able to communicate impartially in a group. The skill is down to how many taste buds you have. This is determined by attending a screening campaign. A prospective candidate would be invited to a 3 day, 2 hours a day screening session. Each day sees them completing a set of discrimination tests, which get more subtle each day. Being involved in a Language Development session and tasting basic tastes to try and identify which taste is which. Based on the outcome of the tests and how well they communicate in a group scenario, determines if they’ve been successful. On average we recruit around twice a year.

What kind of impact do chocolate tasters have on Cadbury products, and why is their input so valuable?

Chocolate tasters have a big impact. They protect our much-loved brands with their taste buds. Without them we could run the risk of the brand reputation.

What would you say to someone who thinks chocolate tasters is “just eating chocolate”?

Everybody makes the same assumption that tasting chocolate is just a case of saying “yes I like it” or “no I don’t like it”. It comes as a big surprise to know that it takes at least 6 months to become a fully-fledged chocolate taster. There are many complexities involved such as learning all the attributes and definitions we use to describe the aroma, appearance, texture, mouthfeel, aftertaste and after effect.