MELISSA BLOCK, host:
The Flake, the Creme Egg, the Crunchie, the Curly Wurly, these are all brands of the British candy maker Cadbury's, now likely to be stamped with the brand Kraft. If Cadbury's shareholders accept a takeover bid from the American company, the $20 million deal will create the world's biggest chocolate maker.
As Vicki Barker reports from London, many people in Britain are already mourning the loss of a national treasure.
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Ms. SIAN WILLIAMS (Presenter): Hello, this is "Breakfast" with Bill Turnbull and Sian Williams.
Mr. BILL TURNBULL (Presenter): Britain's biggest chocolate firm could be swallowed up by the Americans.
Ms. WILLIAMS: After all-night talks...
VICKI BARKER: It isn't just knee-jerk nationalism, not just that, anyway. Cadbury has hold a special place in many Britons' heart. Even the famously unsentimental former British trade minister, Lord Digby Jones, couldn't hide his dismay at the deal.
Lord DIGBY JONES (Former Trade Minister, Great Britain): My big wish is that Kraft get it when they see what made Cadbury the iconic brand they wanted to buy, and that's its people, its reputation. That's what Cadbury's is, and they're buying something that's more than just a chocolate company.
BARKER: Almost from its beginnings in 1824, Cadbury has been more than just a chocolate company. Its founder, John Cadbury, came from a long line of wealthy Quakers. He believed chocolate drinks could woo the working class away from alcohol.
In 1879, the Cadbury family created a model village for their workers called Bournville in rolling countryside, away from industrial smoke and fumes.
Cadbury pioneered pension schemes and joint worker-management committees and provided medical services long before socialized medicine came to Britain.
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Unidentified Man: Midday break, the big punctuation mark in the day.
BARKER: Generations of Britons grew up eating Cadbury's Dairy Milk Chocolate, Cadbury's famous Creme Egg and other delights.
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Unidentified Woman: Haven't you heard of Cadbury's Caramel?
BARKER: But ultimately, Cadbury fell to the desire of the world's candy companies to gobble each other up in a not-so-sweet quest to survive. Four months after firmly rejecting a lower offer from Kraft, Cadbury's current chairman, Roger Carr, says the time and the price are right.
Mr. ROGER CARR (Chairman, Cadbury PLC): And I think Cadbury was exactly what Kraft needed and indeed does need. I think providing our shareholders receive a value, it's been a good outcome.
BARKER: Prime Minister Gordon Brown today urged Kraft to hold on to Cadbury's U.K. workforce, but it's feared many, if not most of the company's 4,500 British jobs may go. And this is one deal Cadbury's workers will not have a say in. In Bournville today, someone's erected a sign saying: Kraft, go to hell.
For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London.