Sydney Architecture Images- Darrell Lea

Sydney Architecture Images- Central Business District

Darrell Lea shop

architect

location

George and King Streets.

date

1863-64

style

Victorian Italianate

construction

brick and plaster

type

Shop

This exuberant building was constructed in 1863-64 for Ashdown & Co, wholesale and furnishing ironmongers. It later became the Royal Exchange Hotel in the 1930s and most recently the chocolate shop. It is the only survivor of a row of similar buildings recently demolished.

Darrell Lea Chocolates was established in 1928 and has grown steadily since. It is privately owned by the Lea family, some of who still work in the business. The company has grown over the years to be the largest privately owned confectionery manufacturer in Australia with around 1,000 employees at peak times.

Darrell Lea operates around 75 of its own outlets and has approximately 475 other outlets run by independent operators under a license agreement.

Darrell Lea manufactures almost all of its own products and uses some 300 raw materials and 2,500 items of packaging materials which are, wherever possible, souced from Australian manufacturers and suppliers.

The company embraces best practise wherever possible in order to produce high quality products. Our manufacturing facility is located at Kogarah , NSW which is to the south east of Sydney and located near the Sydney International airport.

www.dlea.com.au

Family History

Darrell Lea Chocolates began with a young buck by the name of Harry Lea who learnt the art of confectionery making in Perth, Western Australia. Young Harry's first creation was Bulgarian Rock that was sold in his first shop - a simple street pushcart !! Harry eventually moved to Sydney and established a fruit and vegetable shop in Manly's Corso in about 1926. As the Great Depression approached and business dwindled, winter was tough for the fruit and vegetable business, so Harry and his family started to cook Bulgarian Rock at the back of the fruit shop. It was an instant hit! Peanut Brittle was devised and soon the fruit and vegetables disappeared so more space could be devoted to Harry's sweet delights.

In 1927 the first dedicated chocolate and confectionery shop was opened in Sydney's Haymarket - a milk bar/confectionery shop at the front and a kitchen out the back.

The Depression of the 1930's saw a shirt shop become vacant in Pitt Street. Racking used previously for shirts was soon filled with freshly made chocolates and confectionery. (To this day the basic shirt rack format is still used by Darrell Lea).

On most days the shop sold out by early afternoon and had to be shut - so the family started cooking for the next day!

Success led to other Darrell Lea shops opening along Pitt Street and an enlarged factory was soon opened under the first arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The first deliveries were by horse and cart, and later by Model T Ford, confections were delivered twice a day to each of the shops. Fresh product was the priority! The Darrell Lea reputation started to spread.

In 1940, two of Harry's sons, Monty and Harris, opened a similar manufacturing operation in Melbourne with a number of shops in the city. The Swanston Street shop is still going strong today.

Monty's son, Jason, helped open the Hobart shop in 1956 within the Fitzgerald Department Store. In 1966 Maurice opened two shops in Brisbane to which he personally delivered fresh stock every day until his retirement at the ripe old age of 90, the same year, 1966, an Adelaide shop was opened by Harry's grandson, Robert. Business continued to prosper, and a large factory was established in Kogarah, the site of the current manufacturing facility.

On October 30, 1980, a disastrous fire destroyed 90% of the manufacturing facilities at Kogarah. By 1982 the factory was rebuilt and equipped with new, modern machinery.

Members of the family for many years lived on the premises continuing the tradition of 'make today - sell tomorrow'. Today the Kogarah facility operates 24/7. Product is made fresh every day and we still try and deliver on a daily basis.

Nineteenth Century images- State Library of New South Wales

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