
What Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory Would Cost Today
- Elizabeth Hayley
- 30 Sep 2020
- 0 Comments
Remember the magical world from Roald Dahl’s legendary book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? We’ve all dreamed of visiting the fictional factory at one time or another but as practical-minded adults, the real questions surface: How much exactly would that world of the chocolate factory cost? How much would the Wonka company be worth? How much would the Oompa Loompas get paid?
Below is an examination of every element of Dahl’s story, which was then used to calculate the costs of bringing his world of pure imagination to life today.
We estimated that the yearly energy cost alone would cost $2 million. If Wonka wanted to go green with the factory and use solar energy, it would take approximately 3,221 solar panels to supply the 1,180,692 kWH needed for the year, costing Wonka $2.37 billion.
Some of the other iconic scenes in the book and movie like the lickable wallpaper, the golden goose eggs, and the glass elevator are included below. None of them come cheap! And we haven’t even talked about the Oompa Loompas. Wonka would need to spend around $8 million a year on healthcare for his little helpers. Add this to this the $73 million per year he spends on their salaries and you’re looking at the pretty big labor expense.
All told, it appears that Mr. Wonka and his company are looking at a grand total of $224.6 million to keep the factory running each year. These costs may be exorbitant, and there are doubtless a few ways to pare it down—but what fun would that be?
So, after all of these enormous costs to run the chocolate factory, what is the company’s worth? The estimate here is that Mr. Wonka’s company is worth $21.5 billion—which is about on par with the worth of real-life chocolate mogul, Cadbury.
What Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory Would Cost Today from Advanced Technology Services