A history of Frank Roberts & Sons
Frank Roberts and Sons is a thriving modern bakery business but it all began over one hundred years ago in 1887 with our founder Robert Roberts.
A family affair
The company we know today as Frank Roberts and Sons, started in much humbler surroundings in 1887 when Robert Roberts – Frank’s father – opened his own corner shop, selling and delivery groceries, including bread, to the local community in Castle, Northwich.
Robert was born in 1857 and learnt his trade at the age of 11 when he was sent to Robert Ramsbottom Baker and Flour Dealer in Salford to complete his apprenticeship in bread baking and grocery retailing. From there he worked for the grocery retailer Richard Hall in Knutsford before buying his first shop in 1887 at 1 Wellington Street in Castle, Northwich.
The business and the family quickly expanded and in 1900 Robert moved to larger premises on Station Road, Lostock Gralam, Northwich and added a small bakery to his grocery shop to cope with the growing demand for bread. By this time his only son Frank was following in his father’s footsteps and after completing his apprenticeship he joined the business to work alongside his father in developing the bakery and delivery service. In 1920 the business became a true family concern when it was renamed Roberts’ Central Stores (Lostock) Limited and shares were issued to Robert’s wife Mary and their children Frank, Annie, Alice, Ada and Nellie.
Technology advances in the bread baking industry moved at a fast pace during the 1920’s and 30’s, seeing the introduction of bread slicers and wrapping machines in the larger bakeries of Manchester and Liverpool. Robert Roberts died in 1936 at the age of 80, leaving Frank in charge of the family business. With competition intensifying and the ambition to push the bakery further, Frank took the decision to move away from grocery retailing and specialise in bread baking.
Expanding the business
There was little space for development at the site in Lostock Gralam but Frank Roberts did not have to look very far to find the ideal location for expanding the business. In 1937, Alfred Middleton, a family friend who ran a bakery in Northwich was contemplating retirement and agreed to sell his site to Frank. The new acquisition increased the baking capacity dramatically – from 2 to 8 bakers – and profits more than doubled. By 1941 there were 26 employees with six delivery vans supplying over 60 shops in the mid-Cheshire area.
Business was tough during the war years, despite bakers being one of the reserved occupations. Many of the van salesmen were called up to the war effort but, with a lot of hard work from those left at the bakery, the company survived and even participated in government plans for the national sale of bread rations. By the end of the war all bread production had moved to the Middleton bakery and the bakery at Lostock was converted into a small confectionery baker. A new generation of the Roberts family also began to get involved in the company as Franks’ sons, Alan, Bernard and David joined the business over the coming years.
The move to Rudheath, Northwich
By this time bread baking had become a fully fledged industry with the plant bakeries of Manchester and Liverpool piling the pressure onto smaller cottage industries. Frank Roberts was determined that the company wouldn’t fall by the wayside and in 1952 the company moved to its current site and constructed a new purpose-built bakery, the ‘Red Rose Bakery’, on farm land in Rudheath, Northwich. This new bakery was ideally situated for the major roads in the county and, when it was built 11 years later, the M6 motorway. The new bakery could bake around 600 loaves of bread an hour and employed 12 bakers.
To signal the new beginning at Rudheath, the company also changed its name to ‘Frank Roberts and Sons Limited’. Business flourished and during the 1950s and 60s the new bakery was extended considerably to increase capacity and treble bread production.
Sadly Frank Roberts died in 1954 at the age of 57 and the business was handed down to his sons, with his eldest son Alan at the helm. Continuous investment in the bakery resulted in an output of 90,000 loaves a week by 1962 and by 1967 over 200 people were employed by the business and it operated a delivery fleet of 50 vehicles.
By the early 1970s bread production was running at 3,500 loaves an hour and in 1977 Roberts Bakery joined forces with Sainsbury’s, supplying both branded and own label bread; the first of many successful retailer alliances. The fourth generation of the Roberts family also began to join the business with Mike and Julia Roberts joining in 1976, closely followed by Lindsay Roberts who joined the company in 1983.
A new venture
The company celebrated its centenary in 1987 as a dynamic and successful multi million pound business, a remarkable achievement from the original vision of Robert Roberts and his first foray into self employment. Never afraid to invest and keep pace with the industry, Roberts Bakery continued to develop and diversify during the 80’s with the introduction of mass bread roll production and expansion in into foodservice and export markets. In 1993 the first batch of Roberts bread was frozen and exported to Greece. Still a major element of the bakery business today, exports are sent across Europe and even as far as Japan.
In October 2002 Roberts Bakery celebrated 50 years on the site at Rudheath and received its first Royal visitor when HRH The Duke of Gloucester opened a second bread production line at the bakery.
Continuing the entrepreneurial flair of the family, the company branched out and set up a new initiative in 1988 in the form of The Pastry Case. The new sweet bakery filled a niche in the market for long-life pastry cases, which were filled with cream and fruit by in-store bakeries to make delicious cream cakes. In 1992 The Pastry Case made its first gingerbread biscuit and the rest as they say is history. The company soon developed a range of hand-decorated gingerbread biscuits and it has never looked back. With an ever changing portfolio of designs, The Pastry Case is the UK’s leading supplier of decorated gingerbread biscuits.
The company today
Today Frank Roberts and Sons continues to go from strength to strength with its mix of branded retail bread, own label and foodservice customers. Roberts Bakery continues to expand – the iconic cooling towers at the front of the bakery were built in the year 2000 – and bread production now runs at 13,000 loaves an hour or 1.6 million a week, while bread rolls are baked at a rate of 1.7 million a week. The bakery at Rudheath is embarking on its largest ever investment with a major site development programme. The ambitious £8.5 million programme, which will be completed in Summer 2011, will provide the company with a new dispatch facility and more than 3000m2 of extra floor space.
The Pastry Case was expanded in 2006 to and is now a major manufacturer of chocolate cluster treats in addition to the gingerbread and other decorated novelty biscuits.
In June 2010, the company also celebrated a new addition – its first acquisition in the form of Aldreds The Bakers, in Derbyshire. Aldreds was established in 1897 and manufactures a wide variety of bakery products for the retail trade including sliced bread and bread rolls. Together with a long heritage and a good reputation in the industry, Aldreds shares many values with Frank Roberts and Sons and the future promises great things for both companies.
A second successful acquisition in the form of P&A Davies of Chester was completed in October 2010. The bakery was originally established in 1899 by Francis Davies who took a similar decision to Robert Roberts in setting up his own bakery business. Today the bakery has moved to a new state of the art bakery in Hawarden near Chester and specialises in baking gluten free savoury pies and sausage rolls for the retail industry.
As the company heads towards its 125th anniversary, the markets for bread and sweet treats continue to evolve, but the company is committed to competing in a demanding market while still upholding the values instilled by Robert Roberts in his original vision – freshly baked, great tasting products, made with the finest quality ingredients.