I don't own Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Please let me know what you think.
Chocolate Spies.
While he sat at his desk in his office looking at the reports scattered in front of him, Willy Wonka felt as if his heart was a moment away from shattering. For months now, his rivals in the confectionary world had clearly become jealous over his successes and they had been stealing some of his recipes and passing them off as their own. They had sent in a number of spies who mixed with the other factory workers, some of whom had been with him for a long time since the earliest days when he had set up his business in a shop, and he had always hoped none of them would ever do anything like this.
Actually, it had never occurred to him this would happen.
Ever.
Willy had never needed to deal with something like this before in his entire career as a confectionary businessman. He hadn't needed to. Unlike so many other people, it seemed as if so many people were so pathetic they needed to go to these lengths just to steal his work. Willy had to accept the fact a lot of the blame could be placed on his own shoulders, he had expected a quiet career where he would churn one creative brand of chocolate or sweet after another, but he had never imagined he would become a victim of industrial espionage.
And that had been a mistake. He had known for a long time his recipes were groundbreaking, but he had never anticipated anyone going through with this with him. And that was a mistake; Wonka had sampled some of the chocolates made by some of his rivals, and they had never inspired him to go and make something better. But clearly, they hadn't felt the same thing about him.
Willy sighed and picked up the latest report. Fickelgruber had recently manufactured an ice cream that melted in the mouth while releasing little chocolate pieces in the mouth. Willy only needed a moment to remember the ice cream in question since it wasn't currently in the works yet, although it was scheduled for release soon, the recipe was contained in the Invention Room archive.
"This is a disaster," he thought to himself as he thought of the repercussions. He had no idea how he could stop all of this, but what could he do? He had hundreds of workers, who were needed at manufacturing their current lines of sweets and chocolates in various parts of the factory. Any number of them could be working for his rivals. It would be virtually impossible to find them all, especially since he couldn't discount the possibility the spies could be some of the more senior staff.
Yes, he was hiring new people all the time. The Chocolate Factory was one of the biggest employers in the town and he had a constant demand for new workers as his business expanded. He was hiring new people all the time, either because some people left or because he was developing new lines all of the time, and he needed new workers to meet the production figures. But he didn't understand, why would some of these spies even work for his rivals? Had they been hired beforehand and sent into his factory and given a payment far higher than the salary offered by Wonka? That didn't seem likely or reasonable, was it? Or were they employees who'd already been here, and they had betrayed and turned on him because they'd been offered something Wonka could not offer them?
It just didn't seem possible.
But one thing was for sure, he doubted he'd have the time to really find out all of their reasons. Personally, he believed they had been hired beforehand - that seemed more likely to him, but anything was possible, really.
Willy sighed. It was no use going down this road. He could spend the next two years looking for the spies, and no matter what he could do about it, he was realistic enough to know he could do so much, and yet the spies would slip through the cracks, no problem. He could lock down the archives where the recipes were kept. He could do so many things, and it would not work. It did not help that he was aware he didn't have the kind of mindset needed to look for spies, never mind have a mindset where he could have prevented this disaster from happening.
The spies were doing a lot of damage already.
He ran a hand through his locks, wondering what he could do about this, but as he looked at what the other so-called chocolate makers were doing, Willy found he had no idea, and he leaned over the desk and he did something he had never done in a long time. He started to sob. His life's work was being stripped from him piece by piece, and he had no idea what he could do to stop it.
After an hour of giving in to his despair and sadness at the greed of others outside of his factory, Wonka began to think more clearly. There was little point in experimenting with those recipes he had thought of after his trip to India when that idiot prince had hired him to build that palace - the chances were the spies would steal them. In any case, too many recipes had been compromised and stolen already.
There was nothing else for it; he would have to fire the workers in his factory - it would just take too long to weed out the spies among their number, and even then he would likely alienate the ones whom he could trust. For a moment Willy weighed the possibilities of trying to find the spies quietly, but he quickly discounted it. Even if he could do that, the chances of the spies working out what he was up to were high, and then they would likely point the blame at others to cover their tracks, and he did not want that.
He couldn't find the spies quietly and even if he found some way to keep them out of the archives, it would not deter them.
He had no choice, he would have to close the factory and get rid of the lot, and when he got back he would need to think of an alternative plan for people working in the factory.
If only there was another way.
Author's Note - Grandpa Joe's story about the spies didn't really reflect on Wonka's feelings, but when the two men met again after so long, Wonka seemed over it but what was he like when he became aware of the damage? Considering how seriously he took his work it was the love of his life, so it likely hit him hard.