Case Study Birds Eye And The Uk Frozen Food Industry
case thirteen
Birds Eye and the UK Frozen Food Industry
Robert M. Grant
On February 12, 1946, George Muddiman arrived in Liverpool from Canada to take up the job as first chairman of Birds Eye Foods Ltd. “It was raining,” he recalled. “There were no lights on the streets; it was seven o’clock at night and dark. As I looked out of the cab window my heart went into my boots and I thought, ‘What have I done? Why have I left Canada to come to this?’” By the early 1950s, after a host of problems with production, raw materials, and distribution, Birds Eye was firmly established. In 1952, it opened the “Empire’s largest quick-frozen food factory” in Great Yarmouth and was set to embark upon a period of continuous expansion. By 1964 the food sales …show more content…
Birds Eye was poorly represented in some areas: in home freezer centers its share was around 8 percent in 1974 and it had little involvement in retailers’ own labels. In the catering sector Birds Eye’s market share by value was about 10 percent in 1973. After the early 1970s, the company’s share of tonnage sales fell continuously although the market as a whole continued to expand, albeit at a slower rate. To respond to changes in the market – particularly the rise in bulk buying by consumers with home freezers – and to the competition of recent entrants in this sector, Birds Eye introduced bulk packs to the retail market in 1972 and followed this with the establishment in 1974 of a new business, County Fair Foods, to supply the home freezer centers and other purchasers willing to accept a minimum drop size. County Fair Foods shared production facilities with Birds Eye but had a separate distribution system using Christian Salvesen because of the different requirements of freezer centers with regard to quality, product types, distribution, prices, and promotion. In 1976, Birds Eye established Menumaster Ltd to supply frozen prepared meals to caterers. In the traditional retail market, Birds Eye’s main aim was to maintain sales growth, primarily by extending its product range through new product introductions. During the 1970s the company’s dependence upon its traditional products – vegetables, fish fingers, and beefburgers – was reduced by a constant flow of new product introductions – especially ready-to-eat meals, desserts, and ethnic dishes (e.g., Chinese, Indian, and Italian dishes). The widening of Birds Eye’s product range and increased range of market segments that it sought to serve posed major difficulties for Birds Eye’s marketing strategy and the
Birds Eye and the UK Frozen Food Industry
Robert M. Grant
On February 12, 1946, George Muddiman arrived in Liverpool from Canada to take up the job as first chairman of Birds Eye Foods Ltd. “It was raining,” he recalled. “There were no lights on the streets; it was seven o’clock at night and dark. As I looked out of the cab window my heart went into my boots and I thought, ‘What have I done? Why have I left Canada to come to this?’” By the early 1950s, after a host of problems with production, raw materials, and distribution, Birds Eye was firmly established. In 1952, it opened the “Empire’s largest quick-frozen food factory” in Great Yarmouth and was set to embark upon a period of continuous expansion. By 1964 the food sales …show more content…
Birds Eye was poorly represented in some areas: in home freezer centers its share was around 8 percent in 1974 and it had little involvement in retailers’ own labels. In the catering sector Birds Eye’s market share by value was about 10 percent in 1973. After the early 1970s, the company’s share of tonnage sales fell continuously although the market as a whole continued to expand, albeit at a slower rate. To respond to changes in the market – particularly the rise in bulk buying by consumers with home freezers – and to the competition of recent entrants in this sector, Birds Eye introduced bulk packs to the retail market in 1972 and followed this with the establishment in 1974 of a new business, County Fair Foods, to supply the home freezer centers and other purchasers willing to accept a minimum drop size. County Fair Foods shared production facilities with Birds Eye but had a separate distribution system using Christian Salvesen because of the different requirements of freezer centers with regard to quality, product types, distribution, prices, and promotion. In 1976, Birds Eye established Menumaster Ltd to supply frozen prepared meals to caterers. In the traditional retail market, Birds Eye’s main aim was to maintain sales growth, primarily by extending its product range through new product introductions. During the 1970s the company’s dependence upon its traditional products – vegetables, fish fingers, and beefburgers – was reduced by a constant flow of new product introductions – especially ready-to-eat meals, desserts, and ethnic dishes (e.g., Chinese, Indian, and Italian dishes). The widening of Birds Eye’s product range and increased range of market segments that it sought to serve posed major difficulties for Birds Eye’s marketing strategy and the