R&R Ice Cream
R&R Ice Cream is an ice cream manufacturer with its headquarters in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. It has led consolidation in the fragmented UK ice cream market. It holds around 10 per cent of the UK ice cream market, second only to Unilever with its Wall's and Ben & Jerry's brands. The main production site is located at Leeming Bar, and employs 665 people in the largest ice cream factory in Europe.[1][2] Smaller production sites are located in Leeds and Bodmin, Cornwall.[1]
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History[edit]
The company was founded as Richmond Ice Cream in 1985, when Bedale farmer Jonathan Ropner acquired Cardosi, a Thornaby ice cream manufacturer.[1] Ropner asked his friend, bull semen salesman Richard Lambert, to run the company.[2] The company's first major success was winning a contract for supermarket chain Morrisons, which had 44 stores at the time.[2] The company acquired Windsor Creameries from Trevor Hemmings in 1994.[2] In return, Hemmings gained a 40 per cent stake in Richmond.[2] In 1998 Richmond merged with Treats Group plc, based in Leeds, which gave them far greater leverage in negotiations with supermarkets.[1] Allied Frozen Foods was acquired from Associated British Foods in 2000.[3] It acquired Nestle's loss-making UK ice cream business, Lyons Maid, including FAB, in 2001.[2]
On 5 May 2006, Richmond Foods announced that it was to be taken over by Oaktree Capital Management. who merged the company with Roncadin, the largest German own-brand label ice cream manufacturer, to make the largest ice cream manufacturer in Europe. The company is now known as R&R Ice Cream.
In December 2011 the company announced a deal to produce Kraft Foods brand ice creams, such as Oreo and Toblerone.[4] R&R acquired Fredericks Dairies for £49 million in April 2013.[5] It thus acquired control of Cadbury, Del Monte and Britvic ice cream brands.[5]
In April 2013, R&R was acquired by the French private equity firm PAI Partners for £715 million.[1]
Operations[edit]
The company manufactures over 600 million ice lollies every year, produces and packages over 70 per cent of 2 litre supermarket own brand ice cream, including for major UK supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda, and employs around 665 people at its Leeming Bar plant.[6]
Brands[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e BBC News - Northallerton-based R&R ice cream bought for reported £715m
- ^ a b c d e f Winning the ice cream wars : June 2005 : Yorkshire Business Insider : Archive : Publications : Insider Media Ltd
- ^ Richmond buys Allied ice cream
- ^ R&R, Europe's biggest ice-cream maker, set to scoop profit off Kraft deal | This is Money
- ^ a b R&R Ice Cream to buy UK rival Fredericks Dairies
- ^ BBC Look North 15 August 2011
