In Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the chocolate maker who owns the factory is Willy Wonka.
Wonka is the eccentric confectioner at the centre of Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel. He secretly invites five children to tour his mysterious factory after hiding Golden Tickets inside chocolate bars around the world. The factory produces extraordinary sweets, including Everlasting Gobstoppers, chocolate rivers and chewing gum that imitates a three-course meal.
Willy Wonka is often confused with Charlie Bucket, but Charlie is the poor child who finds the final Golden Ticket and becomes the story’s moral contrast to the other visitors. Arthur Slugworth is another possible mix-up: he is a rival chocolatier mentioned in the book, not the factory owner.
The character has appeared in several adaptations. Gene Wilder played Wonka in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, while Johnny Depp portrayed him in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The name also appears in later screen stories inspired by Dahl’s fictional chocolate-maker universe.