Rathbones Bakeries was a bakery founded in 1893, in Wigan, Lancashire. By 1997 it was owned by Greencore, through that company's purchase of Kears Group[1] Two years later, Kears Group rebranded itself as Rathbones.[2]
Kears was bought from Greencore by Finedon Mill of Northampton, for £20.6 million in April 2004,[3][4] a year in which it had sales of £100 million, with customers including Morrisons and Tesco. Following a fire the company went into receivership, with part of its operation sold to Warburtons and parts to Morrisons in 2005.[5][6]
References
- History from the Greencore website^
- Kears Rebranding as Rathbones, a Food Trade Review from December 1, 1999 via HighBeam Research^
- Kate Rankine. Morrisons buys failed bakeries Telegraph, 4 May 2005, retrieved 2011-03-17^
- Bakery company in administration BBC News, 4 April 2005, retrieved 2011-03-17^
- Morrisons buys Rathbones bakeries The Guardian, 2005-05-03, retrieved 2011-03-17^
- Morrisons buys fire-damaged bakery giant The Times of London, 3 May 2005, retrieved 2020-11-14^