Fry, Joseph (1728–1787)

English Quaker, chocolate manufacturer, and printer. He founded the Fry's firm of chocolate manufacturers in Bristol, the first of its kind.

The chocolate factory expanded rapidly, and a Watt's steam engine was purchased in 1798 so that the cocoa beans could be ground by steam. Fry's Chocolate Stick, later renamed Fry's Chocolate Cream, was produced in 1853, and chocolate Easter eggs were introduced in 1875. In 1896 the business became a private limited company, and in 1919 it was acquired by Cadbury Brothers, now part of Cadbury Schweppes Ltd. Production is today concentrated at the Somerdale Factory outside Bristol.

In 1764 he entered into partnership with the first printer of the Bristol Gazette, William Pine. The latter business soon moved to London, where he assumed complete control of it in 1776.