Northern Foods Plc: Products and Projects

Pork Pies, Scotch Eggs and Chinese Take-aways

Northern Foods owns seventeen operating businesses and more than 50 sites.

It operates in eight product areas: meat and savoury products; recipe dishes; speciality breads; bread-based snacks; cakes and puddings; biscuits and frozen foods.

It produces food under brand names Fox's biscuits and confectionery, Ski Yoghurt, Eden Vale, Munch Bunch, Hollands pies, Goodfellas pizzas, Dalepak, Ross, Pork Farms Bowyers, Paynes, and Matthew Taylor Puddings.

It also produces own-label food for Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda and Marks and Spencer. Nearly 30 per cent of their turnover is based on supplying Marks and Spencer with around 600 lines[12]. In 2000, it consolidated its position as one of the leading suppliers to the Supermarkets by acquiring a 40% stake in Solway Foods for £16 million[13]. Solway is a major supplier of own label sandwiches, sushi, added value salads and salad meals.

Northern Foods also produce buns for Burger King, Farley's Rusks under licence and Batchelors Baked Beans in Ireland.

Northern Foods also owns Fletcher's Bakery, Park Cakes, The Pizza Factory, Smiths Flour Mills, Convenience Foods Ltd, Northern Foods Grocery Group Ltd.

It part owns FW Farnsworth Ltd, Green Isle, an Irish subsidiary which trades under the name Goodfella's and recently acquired Lacemont Ltd, and Cavaghan and Gray Group Ltd.

Lord Haskins claims that 80% of Northern Foods products are sourced in the UK[14].

They own NFT - one of the largest UK chilled food distributors. They also operate a dedicated transport operation for Sainsburys[15].

References

[12] www.netfood.org/cgi-bin/news/newsdesk.cgi? [13] www.thisismoney.com/20000207/nm11391.html [14] Lord Haskins speech at Agrivision Conference, organised by the Royal Agricultural Society, Stoneleigh, Warks 6/12/01 [15] International Directory of Companies History (ed) Paula Kepos