British Bakeries Limited
British Bakeries, the UK's largest baker, has been trading under its present name since 1955. The company was built from an amalgamation of several different independent plant bakers, many of them producing under the Mothers Pride brand. It was originally brought together by the McDougalls flour concern, but later combined with the Rank Hovis flour milling business under the ownership of Rank Hovis McDougall.
In 1992, RHM was acquired by Tomkins Plc, an industrial conglomerate operating in many diverse market sectors in the UK, Europe and the USA. In 2000, the group was purchased by private equity firm Doughty Hanson and in 2002 the trading activities of the Ormeau Bakery in Northern Ireland were acquired. In March 2007, Premier Foods plc completed its acquisition of RHM making it the largest food supplier in the UK and Ireland
British Bakeries supplies about one third of the market for plant baked bread with sales of approximately £800 million per annum. Approximately 15 million loaves and 6 million packs of morning goods are baked and delivered each week. Deliveries of freshly baked products are made nationwide to 9,000 stores and depots every day. British Bakeries currently operates from 12 large scale bakeries in the UK with the majority producing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout the year. These are located at:
· Avonmouth
· Belfast
· Birmingham
· Eastleigh
· Erith
· Forest Gate
· Glasgow
· Greenford
· Leicester
· Nottingham
· Plymouth
· Sebon
· Wigan
British Bakeries produces many types of bread and other bakery products such as crumpets, hot-cross buns, rolls and baps - all collectively known as Morning Goods. These products are sold throughout the UK and some of them are exported across the Channel to the continent. The brands produced by British Bakeries have become household names such as Hovis, Mothers Pride and Nimble. Hovis, Britain's longest established bread brand, began life in 1886 with the name of 'Smith's Patent Germ Bread'. A national competition was organised which was won by a London student who took the Latin 'hominis vis' (strength of man) and shortened it to Hovis. British Bakeries also produce a number of own label brands for many of the country's retail outlets.