Batchelors

"For unrelated subjects with similar spelling see Bachelor."

Batchelors is a brand of predominantly dried food products. It was formerly a Company founded in 1895 in Sheffield, England. The company now makes instant soup, in particular "Cup A Soup" and noodle products such as "Super Noodles". The company is the UK market leader in dried soups. The most popular flavour "Cup A Soup" is Chicken.

Also, Batchelors is a manufacturer & distributor of ambient food and drinks in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The UK Batchelors brand (above) has no relation to Batchelors Ireland which is Irish owned and based in Cabra, Dublin. Batchelors in Ireland holds the portfolio of some of the leading consumer brands in Ireland, such as Batchelors Canned Foods, Sqeez Ambient Fruit Juices and the Erin portfolio of products.

History

William Batchelor was born in Sheffield, to Zechariah Batchelor who was a grocer from Camp Lane in Sheffield. William discovered a way to can vegetables such as mushy peas and formed Batchelors Foods in 1895. Whilst on holiday in Bridlington he died in August 1913, aged 53. His daughter Ella (who became Ella Gasking), aged 22, took over leadership of the company and developed it to include processed peas, eventually becoming a household name.

Due to staff difficulties and rationing in the war, the company was bought by James Van den Bergh of Unilever in 1943, where it became part of Van den Bergh Foods (later based in Crawley). In 1948, Ella Gaskin retired and her younger brother Maurice Batchelor took over. The company took over Poulton and Noel, another soup company. In 1949, the first dried soup, chicken noodle flavour, was sold. In 1972, "Cup A Soup" was launched.

In January 2001, Unilever took over Bestfoods. To be allowed to take over the American company, Unilever had to sell off some brands for monopoly regulation. It sold off Batchelors and Oxo to Campbell Soup UK.

Unilever retained ownership of the 'cup-a-soup' brand in America and Australia, rebranding them under Lipton and Continental respectively.

In 2006, Campbell's soup withdrew from the UK market, and sold its assets, including Batchelor's, to Premier Foods.

References

External links

* [http://www.ciao.co.uk/Batchelors_Cup_A_Soup__5287557 Ciao Review of Cup A Soup]
* [http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=0410051735fah Cup A Soup at SnackSpot.]
* [http://www.visit4info.com/details.cfm?adid=13685 Cup A Soup TV Advert.]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1142376.stm Campbells buys Batchelors.]
* [http://www.thebrandcouncil.org/files/Batchelorsv_655.pdf PDF file with Batchelors history.]
* [http://www.campbellsoup.co.uk Campbell Soup UK.]
* [http://www.supernoodles.co.uk Super Noodles.]