Heron Foods

Heron Foods
Industry Food retail
Founded Hull, United Kingdom (1979)[1]
Founder Malcolm Heuck
Headquarters Melton, United Kingdom
Area served
 Northern England and the Midlands
Revenue Increase £194.7 million (2012)[2]
Decrease £6.7 million (2012)[2]
Decrease £3.2 million (2012)[2]
Number of employees
 2,438 (2012)[2]
Parent B&M
Website www.heronfoods.com

Heron Foods Ltd. (formerly Heron Frozen Foods Ltd and Grindells Butchers Ltd) is an English retail chain founded in 1979 and based in Melton with 243 stores.

It primarily sells frozen food, but has a wide range of dry and chilled stock with named brands including Muller, Birds Eye and McCain Foods, as well as several lines using the Heron Foods brand.

B&M announced in August 2017 that it had purchased Heron foods for £152 million, a deal that was described as a "no brainer" by B&M's CEO Simon Arora.[3]

Operations

Heron Foods in Lincoln

The company's head office is at Melton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, previously at Walcott Street, Hull, and it has 250 outlets located throughout the North of England and the Midlands.[1][4]

Heron Foods has developed its business in selling frozen and convenience store goods at a discount, the majority of which are household brands.[5] Heron occupy nine former Woolworth's locations.[6]

History

The company was first registered in October 1978 as Grindells Butchers.[7] The first store was opened by the Heuck family on Holderness Road, Hull in 1979.[8] In 1981 the company changed name to Heron Frozen Foods.[7] In 1999 Heron bought 17 Dawn Til Dusk convenience stores after that chain went into receivership, bringing its total number of stores to over 100.[9] Malcolm and Sheila Heuck had a joint controlling interest in the company from the beginning, but in February 2003, having reached retirement age, they sold their stake to management.[8] The company is now run by their sons Andrew, David and Michael.[10] The company was ranked 13th in a list of the UK's top 50 independent grocers in February 2010 in The Grocer magazine.

In September 2012 Heron Foods agreed to buy the Cooltrader frozen foods business from Iceland. The deal included 54 of the 58 shops and the depot and head office of Cooltrader.[11] The Cooltrader outlets have been converted to the Heron Foods fascia and branding.[12]

In August 2017, it was announced that Heron Foods had been sold to B & M for £152 million.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Heron Foods - Top Quality, Lowest Prices. Right up your street!". www.heronfoods.com. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Financial statement of Heron Foods Limited in East Yorkshire". Duedil.com. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  3. ↑ Armstrong, Ashley (2 August 2017). "B&M Bargains moves into convenience retailing with £152m swoop on Heron Foods". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Lawson, Alex (3 October 2013). "Heron Foods posts 5.1% like-for-like rise as pre-tax profit falls". Retail Week. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
  5. ↑ Nottingham Evening Post 21 August 2012 Tuesday Edition 1; National Edition Innes England in hunt for stores for growing chain of supermarkets SECTION: BUSINESS POST;BUSINESS; p. 15
  6. ↑ The Daily Telegraph (London) 19 January 2012 Thursday Edition 2; National Edition Pound legacy of Woolworths sites BYLINE: Harry Wallop SECTION: BUSINESS; p. 3
  7. 1 2 Companies House Information on Company 01392197
  8. 1 2 "About Heron Foods". Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Independent Retail News 2 July 1999 COSTCUTTER LINKED WITH DAWN TIL DUSK STORES BYLINE: Daniel Pearce SECTION: NEWS; p. 10
  10. ↑ "News & Star - New frozen food shop to open". Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  11. ↑ "UK: Iceland agrees Cooltrader sale to Heron Foods". 4 September 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  12. ↑ Retail Week 3 September 2012 Monday Iceland appoints Paul Foley as international business director
  13. ↑ "Family-run Heron Foods taken over by B&M in £152m deal". BBC News. BBC. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
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