Haigh's Chocolates

Alfred E. Haigh was born in 1877 in Adelaide, South Australia. His first shop opened on 1 May 1915 at 34 King William Street and moved a few doors along to Beehive Corner in 1922 on Rundle Mall and King William Street. The décor of the shop remains the same as when it first opened. John Haigh (Alfred's grandson) wanted to expand the chocolate making aspects of the business, and went to learn about chocolate manufacturing with Lindt & Sprüngli in Switzerland to bring new techniques back to Australia.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Haigh's chocolates were sold in cinemas by "Tray Girls" and "Tray Boys". When cinema attendance fell, Haigh ventured to Melbourne to expand his already popular business.[1]

Haigh's Chocolates have six stores in South Australia, three are located in the Adelaide city centre, including the Beehive Corner store in Rundle Mall, and Adelaide Central Market. The Visitor Centre store also conducts viewing tours of the Parkside factory site that is located behind the store.

Melbourne has seven Haigh's stores, five in the CBD, including a flagship store in the Block Arcade, the newest store is on Elizabeth Street with suburban stores in Hawthorn and Toorak.

There are five Haigh's stores in Sydney in the Queen Victoria Building, The Strand Arcade, Chatswood Chase, Westfield Bondi Junction, Westfield Miranda and Castle Towers. There is also a store in the Canberra Centre. Since October 2014, Haigh's has also sold its chocolate range online.[2]

Rabbits in Australia, initially introduced to the continent by European settlers in the 1700s, have become an unwanted pest since the late 1800s, causing widespread environmental and economic damage, and expensive control measures like the rabbit-proof fence. In a clever piece of marketing, since Easter 1993, Haigh's has sold a chocolate Easter Bilby as an alternative to the Easter Bunny.[3]

• South Australian food and drink

• Official website