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Lyons Frozen Food
As with many food innovations
frozen food originated in North America although it
could be argued that the Inuit, living beyond the
Artic Circle around the World, have been freezing
their food for generations. The development of refrigeration
technology, developed in the nineteenth century, made
it possible to ship frozen food, mainly meat, around
the World and Australia and South America were the
two main countries exporting frozen meat to Europe.
The World’s first freezing works were set up
in Sydney, Australia in 1861 by Thomas Mort. This
was followed by William Vestey and his brother Edmund
who established freezing works in Argentina in 1909
and then formed the Blue Star Shipping Company, with
their refrigerated ships, to transport huge quantities
of beef to the UK. Australia on the other hand were
shipping lamb.
However, early refrigeration processes had limitations
and it was not until 1920 that the American, Clarence
Birdseye, developed his fast-freezing technology.
Birdseye experimented for many years until he discovered
a method of fast freezing food by placing it between
two intensely cold plates. In 1924 he co-founded the
General Sea Foods Company (fish was the early target
of frozen food) and it went on sale in 1930. He soon
afterwards sold his company and it eventually became
part of the Unilever empire.
Lyons had first been alerted to Birdseye’s process
in 1930 by a director of Baker Perkins, who was installing
food processing equipment at Cadby Hall. By the late
1930s Lyons interests were revived and they started
experimenting with frozen rice pudding, waffles and
soup. These experiments were accelerated at the onset
of war when Lyons found themselves with a huge ice-cream
plant which was idle due to the embargo on ice-cream
manufacture. At this time it was thought frozen food
would be insurance against a total collapse of food
supplies due to the shipping losses in the North Atlantic.
By 1941 some teashops were being supplied with limited
frozen food which by 1945 included whole meals and
sandwiches. During the war frozen food was supplied
to American troops stationed in the UK and the teashop
in Duke Street, near to the American Embassy, was
handed over as a troop canteen where frozen food was
not ‘unusual’. After the war this restaurant
was refurbished and turned into a full frozen food
teashop for shoppers in Oxford Street. By 1954 when
rationing was all but over, production of frozen food
was stepped up, both at Cadby Hall and Rannoch Road
(where production lines had been installed) and Lyons
started to supply frozen food to shipping companies,
airlines, the catering trades and hospitals. Micro-wave
ovens, using technology developed during the war,
helped to promote frozen food technology as it could
be de-frosted and heated in seconds (or minutes in
those days). Cooking by radar was one common theme.
Marketed under the brand name of Frood the Lyons products
soon became popular and frozen food became one of
the major socio-economic phenomena of the twentieth
century. It was fuelled by the development of the
home refrigerator, as well as the micro-wave (although
this was not imperative as the food could be heated
in a conventional oven) and the fact that more women
and housewives were working and found frozen food
convenient for their life-style. Lyons formed their
Frood Division in 1954 under the
management of Leonard Gluckstein. By 1962 losses from
the Frood operation reached £150,000 as caterers
were reluctant to invest in what was still expensive
microwave ovens. In 1962 an opportunity came to purchase
the frozen food division (Fropax Ltd) of
Union International. In 1963 Eskimo Foods
Ltd, a subsidiary of Associated Fisheries,
joined the consortium and the combined group became
Fropax Eskimo Frood. The merger was
not successful and in 1968 Union International and
Lyons decided to merge their frozen food business
with that of Nestle (Findus Ltd).
Despite the diversification of products, Findus remained
best known for its frozen fish products but had strong
competition from Birds Eye. By 1974 Lyons decided
to pull out of frozen food altogether and in August
1974 sold their 49 per cent interests in Findus (UK)
Ltd giving no reason to shareholders for the decision.
However, other large food acquisitions were in progress
at this time and the sale of the Findus equity may
have helped fund these acquisitions. |
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| © Peter
Bird 2005
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| Frood
production line (roast beef dinners) Cadby Hall 1950s |
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