Findus

Findus

Industry	frozen food manufacture and retail
Headquarters	Bjuv, Skåne County, Sweden Longbenton, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Area served	Europe
Products	frozen food
Owner(s)	Findus Group, Lion Capital LLP
Employees	420 (UK only)
Website	findus.co.uk findus.com

Findus is a company that produces and retails frozen food. Its products include Crispy Pancakes, which were invented in the early 1970s.

Origins

A small factory first made the Findus brand in Skåne in Sweden. The name came from Fruit Industries. In 1941, the factory was bought by Marabou, a Swedish confectionery company. In 1945 Findus launched the first deep frozen food products in Sweden. In 1962, this Findus brand was sold to Nestlé. In January 2000, it was bought by EQT, a Swedish firm.

Geir Frantzen, a former senior manager at Findus AB, bought out the UK company in April 2005 from EQT. The UK business is now managed by Frantzen and Vidar Engen.

The rest of the Findus business (excluding Italy and Switzerland) was bought from EQT in January 2006.

In Italy, the brand is owned by Unilever which markets a different line of frozen foods common to the Iglo and Birds Eye brands in other countries.

In Spain and Portugal the brand has been owned by Ardo, Europe's largest frozen vegetables company, since 2006.

Findus UK

The Findus brand in the UK is based on Benton Lane near Longbenton in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE12 8EF. The A188/189 roundabout is known as the Findus Roundabout, and Findus currently sponsors the town according to several local signs. The company has some notoriety for a famous blooper reel of voice recordings made by Orson Welles, known as the Frozen Peas reel.

A cat, delivered in a frozen peas box, is named Findus in a children's books series by Sven Nordqvist.

Findus were previously sponsors of the former 2nd tier of British ice hockey the British National League. They also sponsored English football club Grimsby Town between 1979 and 1984.

Foodvest, listed in the Top Track 100 List of biggest private UK companies, now owns the Findus brand in Europe, notably France, Sweden and Norway, along with the Young's Seafood brand. However, the Findus UK brand was licensed out to a separate firm.^[1] Foodvest is now known as the Findus Group, having changed its name on June 8, 2009.^[2]

Rebrand to Crosse & Blackwell

In 1998, the owners of the Findus brand in the UK, Nestlé, announced they were kill off its Findus brand in the UK and bring the range under the Crosse & Blackwell name.^[3] This plan was reversed, however, when Swedish firm EQT ulimately purchased the brand from Nestlé in 1999.^[4]

2009 fire and administration

On 6 January 2009, a fire broke out at the factory, devastating much of the building.^[5] On January 9 Newcastle Production, who run the factory, said that they were having major cash flow problems. The company entered administration with Zolfo Cooper, who are attempting to sell the business and safeguard the 420 jobs.^[6] Foodvest since re-acquired the company.

Findus Italy

In Italy the Findus brands belongs to Permira, who acquired it from Unilever, and has its HQ in Cisterna di Latina (south of Rome), even if the name is Findus the logo and the products are the same as Birds Eye. A particular range is called "4 Salti in Padella Findus" (literally "four jumps in a pan", Italian for "stir frying") a very famous microwavable or easy cooking version of classical Italian dishes such as Carbonara, Amatriciana, Bolognese etc.

Crispy Pancakes

Crispy Pancakes is the name of a brand of frozen savoury pancakes coated with breadcrumbs with either minced beef, three cheeses, chicken/bacon/sweetcorn, or chicken curry fillings. Past fillings include cheddar cheese, chicken and bacon (no sweetcorn) and chicken and mushroom (these were phasing out in November 2001 and finally discontinued in 2002).Crispy pancakes, packaged in Britain, are sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Italy. In Italy, they are known as Sofficini and are filled with tomato and mozzarella, mozzarella, spinach and cheese and ham.

Approximately 450,000 Crispy Pancakes were destroyed in a fire at Findus' plant in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK on 6 January 2009.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall re-created Findus Crispy Pancakes on his TV show, River Cottage (26 November 2009), although the original recipe was developed by Andrew Othen. Hugh stated in a Times^[7] article in 2009 that he loved Findus Crispy Pancakes as a child.

References

1. ^ http://www.foodvestgroup.com/
2. ^ http://www.findusgroup.com/web2009/web/latest_news.asp
3. ^ "Findus brand to merge into C&B". Marketing Magazine. 1998-23-07. http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/rss/61951/Findus-brand-merge-C-B. Retrieved 2011-13-01. 
4. ^ "Swedish keen to fish Findus from plughole". BNET. 1999-17-04. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5245/is_7401_222/ai_n28750359/. Retrieved 2011-13-01. 
5. ^ "Huge fire at frozen food factory". BBC News Tyne. 2008-01-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7813972.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-12. 
6. ^ "Jobs at food factory under threat". BBC News Tyne. 2008-01-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7823648.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-12. 
7. ^ timesonline.co.uk

External links

• Findus UK
• Findus's Scandinavian website