This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2011) |
Product type | Food |
---|---|
Owner | Premier Foods |
Country | United Kingdom |
Introduced | 1895 |
Markets | UK and Australia |
Previous owners | Unilever Best Foods |
Website | www www |
Batchelors is a popular brand of predominantly dried food products. The Batchelors company was founded in 1895 in Sheffield, England by William Batchelor, initially specialising in canned vegetables. It released its first dried soup in 1949, and it started selling its convenience Cup-a-Soup range in 1972. [1] The company now makes pasta and rice dishes like Pasta 'n' Sauce and Super Rice along with instant soup, in particular Cup-a-Soup and noodle products such as Super Noodles. The company is the UK market leader in dried soups.[ citation needed ]
Since early 2008, the Batchelors name has also been applied to Premier Foods' condensed soup range, previously sold as Campbell's. [2] The Campbell's brand returned to the UK in 2011, after a five-year non-compete agreement expired. [3]
William Batchelor was born in Habrough, Lincolnshire, in 1860 to Ellen, née Hudson, and James Batchelor, a farmworker who later had his own farm. William discovered a way to can vegetables such as processed peas and formed Batchelors Foods in 1895. He died in August 1913 whilst on holiday in Bridlington, aged 53. His daughter Ella (who became Ella Gasking), 22 at the time, took over leadership of the company and developed it to include processed peas, with Batchelors eventually becoming a household name.
Ella Hudson Gasking (1891–1966) often known as Mrs E. H. Gasking, took over the family business of Batchelor's Foods, opening a new factory at Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield in 1937 costing £100,000 to build. It was the largest canning plant in Britain, covering 12 acres including playing fields & speaker radios for staff. [4] In 1943 Gasking was awarded an OBE in recognition of her contribution to the war effort and the grocery industry.
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, Gasking 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 the UK subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company. [5]
Unilever retained ownership of the Cup-a-Soup brand in America and Australia, rebranding it under Lipton and Continental respectively.
In 2006, Campbell's soup withdrew from the UK market, and sold its assets, including Batchelors, to Premier Foods. The Campbell's name was licensed to Premier Foods until 2008, following which Campbell's Soup was rebranded as Batchelors.
In 2008, Batchelors was rebranded with a new logo.[ citation needed ]
Pasta is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Pasta was traditionally only made with durum, although the definition has been expanded to include alternatives for a gluten-free diet, such as rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils. While Asian noodles originated in China, pasta is believed to have developed independently in Italy and is a staple food of Italian cuisine, with evidence of Etruscans making pasta as early as 400 BCE in Italy.
Chicken soup is a soup made from chicken, simmered in water, usually with various other ingredients. The classic chicken soup consists of a clear chicken broth, often with pieces of chicken or vegetables; common additions are pasta, noodles, dumplings, or carrots, and grains such as rice and barley. Chicken soup is commonly considered a comfort food.
Pot Noodle is a brand of instant noodle snack foods from the United Kingdom, available in a selection of flavours and varieties. This dehydrated food consists of noodles, assorted dried vegetables and flavouring powder. It is prepared by adding boiling water, which rapidly softens the noodles and dissolves the powdered sauce.
Cup-a-Soup is an instant soup product sold under various brands worldwide. The soup is sold in sachets of powder which can be poured into a mug or cup making it a drink, which is then filled with near-boiling water and stirred.
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Super Noodles is the brand name of a dehydrated instant noodle snack, made by Batchelors in the United Kingdom and sold under the McDonnells brand in Ireland. They are prepared by being placed in a pot of boiling water, adding the sachet of flavouring, and stirring. Super Noodles can also be cooked and prepared using a microwave oven.
Premier Foods plc is a British food manufacturer headquartered in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The group owns many well-known brands, including Mr Kipling, Ambrosia, Bird's Custard, Angel Delight, Homepride cooking sauces, Lyons, Sharwood's, Loyd Grossman sauces, Oxo, Bisto, Batchelors and Plantastic. Premier Foods also produce cakes under the Cadbury's name, using the brand under licence. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Continental is a manufacturer of side dishes and recipe bases. The company is based in Australia, and is a subsidiary of Unilever.
Alphabet pasta, also referred to as alfabeto and alphabetti spaghetti in the UK, is a pasta that has been mechanically cut or pressed into the shapes of the letters of an alphabet. It is often served in an alphabet soup, which is also sold in a can of condensed broth or as a packet soup. Another variation, alphagetti, consists of letter-shaped pasta in a marinara or spaghetti sauce.
Princes Group is an international food and drink group involved in the manufacture, import and distribution of branded and customer own-brand products. Founded in 1880 and headquartered in the UK, since 1989 it has been owned by the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation.
Instant soup is a type of soup designed for fast and simple preparation. Some are homemade, and some are mass-produced on an industrial scale and treated in various ways to preserve them. A wide variety of types, styles and flavors of instant soups exist. Commercial instant soups are usually dried or dehydrated, canned, or treated by freezing.
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot, that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth. Soups are similar to stews, and in some cases there may not be a clear distinction between the two; however, soups generally have more liquid (broth) than stews.
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The Fray Bentos food brand is associated with tinned processed meat products, originally corned beef and later meat pies. The brand has been sold in the United Kingdom, other European countries, and Australia. Created in the second half of the 19th century, the name is derived from the port of Fray Bentos in Uruguay where the products were originally processed and packaged until the 1960s. The brand is now owned in the UK by Baxters, which manufactures the product range in Scotland. Additionally, the Campbell Soup Company manufactures and sells Fray Bentos branded steak and kidney pies in Australia.
Russky Produсt is one of the leading food manufacturers in the Russian Federation.
Koka (可口) are a Singaporean brand of instant noodles. It is manufactured by Tat Hui Foods Pte. Ltd., a company founded in 1986. The noodles are available in a variety of flavours, as packets or cup noodles.
Cup Noodles is a brand of cup instant ramen developed in 1971 and manufactured by the Japanese food company Nissin Foods. The product was first introduced in the United States as "Cup O' Noodles" in 1972, before being renamed to "Cup Noodles" in 1993.
Ella Hudson Gasking, née Batchelor, was a prominent British businesswoman in the food manufacturing sector as chairman and managing director of Batchelors, and was one of Sheffield's best-known industrialists in the 20th century. She was known in business as Mrs E. H. Gasking.