The proposed Hobart Chocolate Experience is one step closer to becoming a reality, with the project’s proponent saying a development application is hoped to be lodged within the next six months.
Simon Currant has been working on the project for nearly two decades and says the total expected cost has now reached $105 million, up 20% from two years ago.
The project will be predominately funded through private equity, while the state government will provide $12 million – $4 million over the next two years and $8 million subject to the DA being approved.
The experience will tell the story of chocolate making in Tasmania and will feature a factory control room, a chocolate lab, children’s playground and cafe plus a “whole range of other experiences within it”.
It will famously offer the world’s ‘largest chocolate fountain’, while Currant is also promising a ‘chocolate lounge’ – which he described as an “adult’s playground for chocolate desserts”.
“It’s delivering the entire chocolate experience right from ingredients, growing through to manufacture, Currant told Pulse.
‘It’s not a Willy Wonka, but it is a highly entertaining [roughly] two and a half hour experience in which you’ll come out having blurred vision on the amount of chocolate you’ve eaten.”
Currant says Cadbury are heavily involved with the project and are supporting the development by making the site available.
It’s hoped the experience will attract 500,000 visitors annually, bringing back a “modern interpretation” of Cadbury factory tours of years gone by.
Two new ferries will also be built to transport visitors from the Hobart waterfront to the experience at Cadbury’s site in Claremont.
“We have an arrangement, Roche Brothers are going to build them,” Currant said.
“And we’re building a new jetty at Cadbury’s for that and I’m sure that will probably get added into the Derwent Ferry business.”
If approved by the Glenorchy City Council, the Hobart Chocolate Experience is expected to open by late 2026.
