Ernest Hillier Chocolates
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| Type | Privately held company |
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| Industry | Confectionery |
| Founded | 1914 |
| Headquarters | 9-11 Hocking Street coburg North, Victoria, 3058, Australia |
| Area served | Australia, international exports |
| Products | Chocolates |
| Website | ernesthillier.com.au |
Ernest Hillier Chocolates is an Australian chocolatier. Founded in 1914, it is Australia's first chocolate manufacturer, and the oldest privately owned chocolatier still in operation.[citation needed]
The company's product range includes over six hundred chocolate products.
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[edit] History
Ernest Hillier moved from England to San Francisco, California, United States, in the early 1900s to learn the confectionery and soda trade. There, he and his Australian-born wife, Magdalen May, opened several restaurants; however, the majority of their establishments were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The Hilliers subsequently moved to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in 1906, where Ernest began a sequence of Australian firsts. In 1911, he opened the first soda fountain[citation needed] in Australia, "Hillier Refreshment Services", at the Imperial Skating Rink.
Because of the success of the soda fountain, Hillier was put in charge of catering at the amusement park at Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales. That same year he also looked after Gauts refreshment service and a fountain shop in George Street, opposite the Central Railway Station.
In 1914, Hillier opened his chocolatier business, providing locally made chocolate. Prior to this, all chocolate in Australia had to be imported from the U.S. and Europe. Because of the distance and climatic conditions, together with transport restrictions, the chocolate always arrived in poor condition.
In the wake of the Great Depression, chocolate sales dramatically declined in Sydney; in response, Hillier moved his business to Melbourne, Victoria.
[edit] Present day
Hillier eventually sold the business later in life.
In October 2000, Hillier purchased Australian confectionery company Newman's.
As of 2009, the company remained privately owned.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
Staff writer (undated). "Our History" earnesthillier.com. Retrieved 7 February 2011.
[edit] External links
- ernesthillier.com.au, company's official website
Coordinates: 37°43′40.7″S 144°57′21.72″E / 37.727972°S 144.9560333°E
