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Aunt Bessie's Ltd
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryFood
PredecessorTryton Foods Ltd
Founded1995
HeadquartersHull
Leeds
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Paul Heritage (Managing director)
ProductsFrozen food
Number of employees
350
ParentNomad Foods
Websitewww.AuntBessies.co.uk

Aunt Bessie's Limited (until 2008 known as Tryton Foods Ltd) is a UK producer of frozen food products under the brand name Aunt Bessie's. The company produces frozen Yorkshire puddings, potato products, meal accompaniments, ready meals, vegetables and desserts. The company has its factories in Hull and employs over 350 staff.[1]

History

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Aunt Bessie's Limited was, until 2018, a subsidiary to the William Jackson Food Group, a food retail and manufacturing business founded in Hull in 1851.[2] The current chairman, Nicholas Oughtred, is the great-great grandson of the founder, William Jackson.[3]

The William Jackson Group's frozen Yorkshire puddings were originally created for Butlins Holiday Camps in 1974.[4] In 1995, the company started producing its Yorkshire puddings for British supermarket chains under the label Aunt Bessie's,[5] so a special food manufacturing company was set up, called Tryton Foods. However, market research revealed that the name Triton was associated by the public with items such as "...either with bathrooms and showers or inter-continental ballistic missiles." So the name was changed to Aunt Bessie's as a marketing ploy.[6][7]

Aunt Bessie's frozen roast potatoes were introduced in 1999[8] and were one of a number of products including chips and croquettes that had been manufactured under licence by Heinz at their factory in Norfolk[9] until the contract for the deal ended in 2015.[10]

Business development

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By 2001 the retail value of the brand was over £50 million and it had become one of the top 100 brands in Britain.[11] As the fastest growing frozen food brand its value had grown to £110 million by 2014 and in consumer surveys it had a recognition score of 70%.[12] In August 2004, the supermarket division of the William Jackson company, Jacksons Stores, based in North Ferriby, was sold to Sainsbury's for £100 million, and the company began to focus on food production rather than retail.[13] In early 2008, sales of the Aunt Bessie's Homestyle mashed potato doubled when it featured in Delia Smith's How to Cheat at Cooking for use in a shepherd's pie.[14] The same year, the company name was changed to Aunt Bessie's Ltd.[15] In its list of Britain's biggest brands, The Grocer ranked Aunt Bessie's at 50 in 2016 and 55 in 2017.[16][17] In June 2018, Nomad Foods agreed to buy the Aunt Bessie's business from William Jackson for £210 million.[18]

References

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  • Financial Times, page 13, 4 February 2004
  1. ^ "Aunt Bessie's Production Facility Upgrade". Packaging Gateway. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  2. ^ Winter, Phil (4 February 2019). "Former Aunt Bessie's owner William Jackson Food Group faced 'challenging year' as profits fall". hulldailymail.co.uk. Hull Live. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  3. ^ "Founder of Hull's William Jackson Food Group honoured with Mayor's Centenary Plaque". hullccnews.co.uk. Hull CC News. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Made in Hull: 10 great inventions and products from LCD to the boiled sweet". Hull Daily Mail. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  5. ^ "Success for Aunt Bessie". BBC News. 10 February 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  6. ^ Blow, John (27 July 2020). "Yorkshire's food 'production powerhouse' explored on prime time television". The Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  7. ^ "City-based company's Yorkshire puddings have become a success story across the world". infoweb.newsbank.com. 1 May 2001. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  8. ^ "The chips are up for successful food factory". Norfolk News. 31 October 2010. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  9. ^ "Frozen Foods". Food manufacture. William Reed Business Media. 13 December 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  10. ^ "Heinz UK site faces axe after end to Aunt Bessie's deal". just-food. 9 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Devastated puds firm rises to top". The Yorkshire Post. 10 July 2001. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  12. ^ "Frozen Foods". Food manufacture. William Reed Business Media. 13 December 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  13. ^ "Sainsbury's pays £100m for shop chain". The Telegraph. 17 August 2004. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  14. ^ "Aunt Bessie's case study: Maintaining growth in frozen foods by stressing convenience and tradition (CSCM0244)" (PDF). DATAMONITOR. 2009. p. 9. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  15. ^ "AUNT BESSIE'S LIMITED". Companies House. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  16. ^ "Britain's Biggest Brands 2016". The Grocer. 18 March 2016. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  17. ^ "Britain's Biggest Brands 2017". The Grocer. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  18. ^ "Aunt Bessie's: Frozen food firm to be sold in £210m deal". BBC News. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
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Media related to Aunt Bessie's, Kingston upon Hull at Wikimedia Commons

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