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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Baking |
| Founded | 1876 (150 years ago) (1876) |
| Founder | Thomas Warburton |
| Headquarters | Bolton,Greater Manchester, England |
Key people | Jonathan Warburton (Chairman) |
| Products | Bread and other bakery goods |
| Revenue | £574.4 million |
| Owner |
|
Number of employees | Over 5000[1][2] |
| Parent | Warburtons Holdings Limited[3] |
| Website | warburtons |
Warburtons Limited[4] is a Britishbaking firm founded byThomas Warburton in 1876 and based inBolton, a town formerly inLancashire, England, and now inGreater Manchester. For much of its history Warburtons only had bakeries in Lancashire and it remains a family-owned company. As of 2018, Warburtons has 12 bakeries, 14 depots, and 4,500 employees around the UK.[5]
The company embarked on a large expansion programme in the late 1990s which continued in the 2000s and it has grown across the United Kingdom after being relatively unheard of outside theNorth West.[6] By 2010, it had a 24% share of the UK bread market compared with 2% when it was based solely in Bolton.[7] In 2008, Warburtons was the most popular bread in Lancashire with a 45% market share compared with just 15% in London.[8]
In 2012, the Warburtons brand was the most popular bread in the United Kingdom, ahead of rivalsKingsmill andHovis, a position it claimed in 2008.[9] Up to 2010, Warburtons products were the second-best selling food and drink brand in the UK afterCoca-Cola[7] and ahead of brands such asCadbury's,Barr's, andWalker's.[10]
The company donated £25,000 to theConservative Party in 2010, and staged one ofDavid Cameron's speeches at its Bolton headquarters.[11][12] In a 2016 interview withCampaign, chairman Jonathan Warburton said thatBrexit was "a very good thing to have happened", and called theEuropean Union a "rotting corpse".[13][14]
Ellen andThomas Warburton bought a small grocery shop in Bolton in 1876. The business grew and Thomas' nephew Henry joined the business when he was 16 and became a skilled baker by the age of 25. Henry continued to expand the business and the location of the bakery was moved four times in 25 years finishing with the opening of Back o'th' Bank Bakery opened by Rachael Warburton in July 1915. Henry became involved in local affairs within the community and stood as aLiberal candidate. He became mayor of Bolton. Henry Warburton died in 1936.
Warburtons grew with the purchase of several smaller companies inNorth West England.
Production of bread was based solely inBolton for much of the company's history. Because of this, during transport the bread lost its freshness by the time it arrived anywhere outside the North West of England. With demand increasing from national retailers such asTesco,Asda andSainsbury's,[15] in the late 1990s the company embarked on an expansion programme and opened new plants atEastwood inNottinghamshire,Bellshill andWednesbury. Warburtons moved into Scotland in 1996 and by 2003 the company had a 32% share of the Scottish bread market.[16]
In October 2003,Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh opened Warburtons' eleventh bakery inEnfield, North London. In 2004, Warburtons increased production inScotland with the completion of Bellshill, phase two.Rathbones Bakeries, based inWalsall, went into administration in April 2005, and Warburtons bought a bakery atStockton-on-Tees just off theA66 nearPreston-on-Tees in January 2005, and another bakery atRogerstone near theA467 atNewport in November 2005. A £60m 12-acre (49,000 m2) super bakery inNormanton,West Yorkshire opened in March 2006, claiming to be the largest bakery in Europe.[citation needed] Other bakeries outside of the Lancashire area are inNewburn forNewcastle upon Tyne next to the A6085 andRiver Tyne.
In 2010, the company announced the closure of its Newport facility, but retained a distribution depot atPort Talbot to continue service to the South Wales market. Production was transferred to a new plant inBristol. The lease on the Newport plant was ceded toBrace's Bakery.[17]
In 2013, theDaily Mirror named Warburtons as Britain's best loved shopping brand ahead of Coca-Cola, Heinz, and Cadbury.[18][better source needed]
In 2015, Warburtons announced the use ofSylvester Stallone in its marketing campaign, with Stallone re-enacting parts he had played previously.[19] Another advert involvesThe Muppets singing about the new brand of giant crumpets, in a style almost identical to the opening theme ofThe Muppet Show, whilst the advert withPeter Kay plays on the Bolton connection.[citation needed]
In May 2019,Robert De Niro appeared in an advert for Warburtonsbagels.[20] In 2021,George Clooney appeared in a TV advert alongside Jonathan Warburton.[21] In 2023,Samuel L. Jackson portrayed Warburton in an advert for the Warburtons Toastie loaf.[22][23]
In March 2020, Warburtons was criticised by some smaller independent retailers for prioritising delivieries to larger supermarkets as a result ofthe COVID-19 pandemic.[24] In response to theUK Government's measures against COVID-19, Warburton said: "It went too far... people have been hugely fearful, unnecessarily".[25]
In January 2023,Waitrose said it had stopped stocking Warburtons products the previous year amid a commercial dispute, "after their performance didn’t meet our expectations."[26]
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Warburtons makes five categories of products: Bread, Rolls, Bakery Snacks (including crumpets and potato cakes), Gluten Free and Weight Watchers.
Warburtons' staple products include the orange wrappered Toastie loaf, the blue wrappered Medium loaf and the green wrappered Thickest loaf, all of which are wrapped inwax paper.