For all you chocaholics out there, here's a look behind the scenes at an Easter Egg factory in Alfreton, Derbyshire...
The Wider View: Inside the Egg room at a chocolate factory
22nd March 2008
Daily Mail
It could be a fantasy scene from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
But this is the pre-Easter rush in the Egg Room at the Thorntons production plant in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
Newly filled Easter egg moulds are attached to an octopus-armed spinning machine that rotates the eggs through three axes so that the liquid chocolate coats the inside of the moulds and assumes its familiar shape.
Newly filled easter egg moulds are attached to a spinning machine
The eggs then go into a cooler for 20 minutes to acquire their shell-like brittleness.
There are five spinning machines at the factory – each working 24 hours a day before Easter – and each operated by eight people per shift.
This machine can hold 40 moulds per rotation, with four eggs to each mould.
Dream job: The delicious eggs begin to take shape
The moulds are manually attached to the spinning machine and held together by magnets – the white dots that are clearly visible on each orange square.
At its busiest time, the factory can produce 10,000 eggs each day and between November and March, the factory will make a staggering 10.5million chocolate Easter eggs in assorted sizes. Seventy per cent of egg sales come in the three days before Easter.
A worker inspects the chocolate delights before they are packaged and shipped out
Nathan Worth, manufacturing manager at Thorntons, says: "It's manic because that is when the majority of people buy their eggs.
"We will be making eggs on the morning of Easter Sunday and they will be on the shop shelves that afternoon."
Hungry work: Staff in the egg room at Thorntons make the final touches to the easter treats
dailymail.co.uk
The Wider View: Inside the Egg room at a chocolate factory
22nd March 2008
Daily Mail
It could be a fantasy scene from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.
But this is the pre-Easter rush in the Egg Room at the Thorntons production plant in Alfreton, Derbyshire.
Newly filled Easter egg moulds are attached to an octopus-armed spinning machine that rotates the eggs through three axes so that the liquid chocolate coats the inside of the moulds and assumes its familiar shape.
Newly filled easter egg moulds are attached to a spinning machine
The eggs then go into a cooler for 20 minutes to acquire their shell-like brittleness.
There are five spinning machines at the factory – each working 24 hours a day before Easter – and each operated by eight people per shift.
This machine can hold 40 moulds per rotation, with four eggs to each mould.
Dream job: The delicious eggs begin to take shape
The moulds are manually attached to the spinning machine and held together by magnets – the white dots that are clearly visible on each orange square.
At its busiest time, the factory can produce 10,000 eggs each day and between November and March, the factory will make a staggering 10.5million chocolate Easter eggs in assorted sizes. Seventy per cent of egg sales come in the three days before Easter.
A worker inspects the chocolate delights before they are packaged and shipped out
Nathan Worth, manufacturing manager at Thorntons, says: "It's manic because that is when the majority of people buy their eggs.
"We will be making eggs on the morning of Easter Sunday and they will be on the shop shelves that afternoon."
Hungry work: Staff in the egg room at Thorntons make the final touches to the easter treats
dailymail.co.uk