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J. Lyons & Co (Pty)
Natal, South Africa J. Lyons & Co. (Pty.) Ltd was formed in 1927 with its head
office situated at Pinetown, Natal, and it was here
that another Cadby Hall operated. In August 1935 a
photograph of the staff working there was published
in the Lyons Mail magazine. Although production
probably started in a small way, by the 1950s a
large range of food-stuffs was manufactured by the
Pinetown factory. The subsidiary company blended
and packed tea, roasted and ground coffee and
manufactured BEV. Chico and confectionery was
imported from Britain. The factory also produced a
range of ready-mixes all for distribution in South
Africa. Depots were situated at various places
throughout the territory covered, each with their
own sales representatives. Main depots were
established at Cape Town and Johannesburg. In the
1950s the General Manager was Louis Tamine and the
Accountant Mrs Warren. In the J. Lyons returns to
Companies House a number of subsidiary companies
are listed of which nothing is known: Concris (Pty)
Ltd, Hind Bros. Co Ltd, Jortssen Street Catering
(Pty) Ltd, Luncheon Vouchers (Pty) Ltd, Sably
Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Strand Street Caterers (Pty)
Ltd, Stylist Shopfitting (Pty) Ltd, Sugarbrush Food
System (Pty) Ltd and WS Foods (Pty) Ltd. The Rhodesian company was
established in 1950 under the title of J. Lyons
& Co (Rhodesia) Ltd. However, it was not until
March 1952 that they built the fourth Cadby Hall on
a site seven miles from Salisbury (now Harare).
Prior to this, and during the war, J. Lyons &
Co (Pty) Ltd of Durban handled the Rhodesian market
through an agent in Salisbury, who packed and
distributed Lyons tea. The trade increased so much
that it was decided in October 1950, to form a new
company in Rhodesia which was known as J. Lyons
& Co (Rhodesia) Ltd. Plans were made and a two
acre site was acquired. The land was cleared and
the Southern Rhodesian Government laid drainage and
services. The architects who had designed the
Durban Cadby Hall drew up plans for the new
building and these were submitted for approval.
Machinery for the new factory was shipped from
Britain and Mr Hornall of Durban and formally
Greenford, went to Salisbury to supervise its
installation. Soon the clean lines of the new Cadby
Hall was a feature of the landscape. The factory
was situated on Beatrice Road, which formed part of
Cecil Rhodes' dream of a highway from Cape Town to
Cairo. It covered 3,000 square feet and from the
outset allowances were made for a large expansion.
Behind the factory ran the railway linking the port
of Beira, on the Indian Ocean, through which much
of material for the factory came with links to
Bulawayo and the Transvaal. Three brands of tea
were mixed in Rhodesia. The bulk was green label
which, with the Lujeri Estate tea, was mainly for
European consumption. For African consumption was a
less expensive tea known as Roma Tea. Bev and
custard powder were imported from Pinetown, Natal
and French coffee, Quoffy and confectionery from
London. Behind the factory were quarters for local
staff who made up most of the jobs of unskilled
workers. However, the company's operations were not
mentioned in the Annual Accounts until 1958 when
Isidore Gluckstein's statement said: 'We have tea
blending and packing factories in Canada, South
Africa, Rhodesia and Eire.' In the early 1960s the
company had expanded to include Lyons Maid ice
cream and ground coffee. Lyons Brooke Bond
(Rhodesia)(Private) Ltd was incorporated in October
1963 when Lyons and Brooke Bond merged their
companies. R. W. P. Charles, formally general
manager of Lyons' cocoa buying operation in Ghana,
was appointed the managing director. Both companies
thought it best to harness their resources as they
faced the impending break-up of the Central African
Federation of which Southern Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe), along with Northern Rhodesia (now
Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) were all part.
Lyons took two thirds of the equity of the newly
formed company and Brooke Bond (owned by Unilever)
held the rest. In 1965 Rhodesia was plunged into
constitutional and economic crisis after the
Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Yet despite
sanctions and a civil war the Lyons Brooke Bond
business survived and even began to grow expanding
its activities to include ice cream manufacture and
packing of imported instant coffee. By the 1970s
Lyons Brooke Bond began to source its coffee
locally and had introduced ground coffee products
and a limited range of condiments. By the mid 1970s
they moved into fast food catering with the opening
of Wimpy, Golden Egg and Peter's Pancake outlets. A
soft drinks company (RabRoy of Bulawayo) was
acquired and the company moved into non-carbonated
drinks. In 1980 Rhodesia became Zimbabwe and this
led to a short period of economic growth before the
country plunged in economic decline aided by severe
droughts. Lyons Brooke Bond had to contend with
scare supplies of raw materials and constraints on
foreign exchange. By 1994 Lyons Brooke Bond was
employing 1500 people split into four divisions:
Grocery, Frozen Food, Vending and Food Service. The
Food Service Division was the largest and most
profitable of the four. They ran 20 outlets
thoughout Zimbabwe including 11 Wimpy outlets (in
Harare, Bulawayo, Kwekwe, Gweru, Masvingo, Mutare
and Victoria Falls). There were five Super Chef
takeaways in Harare, Three Mr 'T' outlets and the
Milky Lane Ice Cream Parlour in Harare. In 1991 the
company launched a new in-house magazine under the
title of In Touch. Published quarterly, with
articles in English, Shona and Ndebele, it was
issued free with 1,500 copies going out to
factories and depots. By 1992 a small export market
developed when a shipment of peanut butter and
mayonnaise was shipped to Mauritius. This was
achieved because the Zimbabwean government decided
to slowly open up the country's economy which had
been closed since 1965. Business growth, however,
was short-lived when central Africa suffered the
worst droughts in its history during 1991/92. As a
food business, the company was hit badly. There was
an acute shortage of many of the raw materials used
in the manufacture of its products-oils, sugar,
butter, flour and tomato paste. Eventually supplies
of beef, chicken, eggs, pork and peanuts were also
seriously affected. In 1993 hydrological surveys
were carried out at the company's three Harare
sites. The Melbourne Road site looked the most
promising and a depth of 65 meters water was struck
and the well eventually produced 440 gallons an
hour. The General Manager was C. N. B. Wodehouse
who was formerly with the Wholesale Tea Department
in the UK. W. Best was a director and Secretary who
was responsible for all the accounting, clerical
and administrative functions. The territories of
this operation included the romantic names of
Maschonaland and Matabeleland. In the J. Lyons
returns to Companies House two subsidiary companies
are listed of which nothing is known: C & E
Watson (Pvt) Ltd and Westside Foods (Pty) Ltd. The history of the Zambian operation is not entirely known but
it seems to have had a similar background to the
Zimbabwean business. That is it was formed in the
1950s. Its title came about with the merging of the
Brooke Bond/J. Lyons businesses in 1963 and the
subsequent change of name after independence (see
Lyons Brooke Bond (Zimbabwe). By the 1990s Lyons
Brooke Bond (Zambia) was the largest
privately-owned company in the country, marketing a
large range of hot and cold beverages and canned
foods, as well as jams, pasta, curried products and
relishes. It also manufactured baby food and a
range of breakfast cereals. The business was based
in Ndola, capital of the country's copper belt.
Like Zimbabwe it also had depots throughout the
country. These were supplied by the company's own
distribution network, essential to the operation
because of the general unreliability of transport
in the region. Lyons Brooke Bond (Zambia) was 60
per cent owned by Lyons and 40 per cent by Brooke
Bond (Unilever). This was a slightly smaller
holding for Lyons than the Zimbabwe company. In the
J. Lyons returns to Companies House one subsidiary
company is listed of which nothing is known:
Northern Foods Distributors Ltd. In the J. Lyons returns to
Companies House two subsidiary companies are listed
of which nothing is known: Emanem Ltd and Clarkham
Produce Ltd. See Lujeri Tea Estate In 1988 Lyons re-acquired the use of the Tetley Tea brand in
Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The
trade mark was transferred, through a series of
transactions dating from the late 1970s until
Unilever acquired it with their takeover of an
Australian tea company called Bushells. Unilever,
with their Brooke Bond and Lipton brands, already
controlled a sizable slice of the Australian tea
market and their Bushells acquisition took their
share to more than 65 per cent. As a result they
were forced by the Australian Trade Practices
commission to part with some of their brands, and
as well as the Tetley brand name Lyons bought two
other Australian loose tea brands, Billy and
Goldenia. All three were distributed throughout
Australia by a company called Stimorol. Although it
had a smaller market share, Tetley was a national
brand in Australia whereas Billy and Goldenia were
regional brands mainly in New South Wales and
Queensland. Overseas Trading Corporation (Jersey)
were responsible for the on-going administration of
this Australian venture. Billy tea was one of
Australia's oldest branded products and was said to
date back to the gold rush days of the 1890s when
swagmen developed their own special tea to
compensate for the harsh taste of the water in the
outback. In July 1988 Lyons acquired a business called Tuckfield Teas
Pty Ltd from Cottee's Foods, the food division of
Cadbury Schweppes in Australia. This acquisition
lifted their position to second place in the
Australian tea market. The business, based in
Melbourne, had three main brands, Tynee Tips
selling chiefly in Victoria and Tasmania, Kinkara,
selling in New South Wales and Highfield selling in
Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. In
September 1991 arrangements were made with the
Suntory-owned Cerebos Australia group to use its
distribution network and sales team to help expand
the Lyons Tetley's business in Australia, a
business that had 14 per cent of the Australian tea
market. The teas continued to be packed in
Melbourne. In June 1992 Lyons Tetley Australia boosted its market share
of tea to 21 per cent when it acquired the
interests of the D & J Fowler business. This
Adelaide-based food manufacturer produced a range
of tea products that complemented those of Lyons.
Its main brands were Amgoorie and Robur with
particular strengths in South and Western
Australia, areas of the country in which Lyons were
not strongly represented. The Amgoorie brand, which
gets its name from a famous tea estate in the hills
of north India, dates back to 1890; that's earlier
that the first Lyons teas. It was obtainable in
both loose form and teabag. Co-incidental to this
acquisition, Lyons Tetley had launched in the
second half of 1991, its All Rounder version of the
round teabag. It was also announced that Jamie
Odell, Malay born and previously national accounts
director for Grants of St James's, was appointed
Managing Director of Lyons Tetley Australia. J. Lyons & Co (Canada) Ltd was formed in 1930 but the
Cadby Hall factory in Toronto was not built until
1947. It was situated on the outskirts of the fast
expanding city on the Queen Elizabeth Highway, a
four lane course which ran to Niagara Falls some 90
miles away. It was a very modern structure where
teabags and coffee were blended and packed. Many
dollar earning products such as Quoffy, Crispy
Fingers, Dundee cakes, Christmas puddings and
bottled confectionery from the UK arrived here and
then re-shipped to salesmen at various points in
Ontario and Quebec and to agents on the west coast.
A speciality of the factory was dehydrated chicken
noodle soup. All these products were sold in the
Dominion of Canada. Sales were undertaken by a team
of representatives who covered large areas and
territories by UK standards. Some districts were
covered by distribution agents. The Toronto
headquarters managed all the secretarial,
accounting and invoicing for the Canadian
operation. It also became the headquarters of the
subsidiary company in Canada and in 1951 the
General Manager was Harold C. Brinjes, formally
manager of the Ice Cream Sales Office, who later
became a director and vice president of the
American subsidiary. In 1953 the Director and
General Manager was J. P. Gledhill while Al Martin
was Director and Treasurer. In the J. Lyons returns
to Companies House two subsidiary companies are
listed of which nothing is known: Margaret's Fine
Foods Ltd, and Pells Restaurant & Supply Ltd. Up to 1921 the company's tea buying in India was done by
agents one of which was Heath & Company in
Calcutta. Their business was subsequently purchased
and Lyons established their own buying organisation
shortly thereafter. In 1923 they formed the
subsidiary Lyons (India) Ltd to buy for Greenford.
Its associated company, Heath & Company
(Calcutta) Ltd, continued to buy for other
customers all over the world and both companies
were located in Pollock House, British India
Street, Calcutta. The office employed about forty
clerks and occupied the 4th floor of a modern
building. The local male clerks took care of
invoicing and accounts. There was a cashier, two
secretaries, postal and shipping clerks. Most
importantly there was a tea sales room where the
tea buyers, all Greenford-trained men (Charles
Davis, Michael Adams and Peter Hollier), did their
tasting and examination of samples due for auction
at the weekly sales. The office work was very
seasonal; the main tea buying sales taking place
between May and November which was the hottest time
of the year. There was also a retail and wholesale
selling operation which operated in several of the
larger conurbations of Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi,
Madras and other cities. By 1928 staff numbers had
increased to at least 55 with seven Europeans who
had transferred from the UK. They included Messrs
Ryan, Cook, Gibson, Lyst, Bentley, Pierce and
Mankin. Mankin, formally a salesman in the Tea
Agents Department, he was killed in a motor cycle
accident at Asansol in June 1930 leaving a widow
and two daughters. One of the longest serving
employees at the Calcutta office was Haridas
Banerjee who started in 1926 as a salesman taking
orders for packet blends and travelling all over
India and who featured in the August Lyons Mail of
1951. In 1962 the chairman announced to
shareholders that the Indian tea buying
establishments closed in the Financial year. 'Tea
purchasing', he said, 'could be done as
efficiently, but more economically, without
maintaining our own organisation.' Although not
specified it is presumed this buying was centred on
the London tea auctions. How the Indian closures
affected the tea selling operation is not known but
the discontinuance of the buying function would not
necessarily mean the closure of tea sales. The
Lyons tea buyers obtained stocks from overseas
gardens, including their own Lujeri crop, and the
London auction rooms right up until 29 June 1998
when the last London Tea Auction was held. It
marked an to an era. The company Heath &
Company was also registered and operated in Ceylon
(Sri Lanka). In January 1993 Lyons Tetley announced a joint venture with
Tata Tea of India whereby Lyons Tetley
International would have access to the India tea
markets and provide a foundation on which to build
an export business to many other tea markets. India
is the largest tea market in the world. The aims of
this joint venture were to first develop the
domestic Indian teabag market and then to build an
export market to the Middle East, Central Asia and
eastern Europe. Round teabags, or pouches as they
were called in India, were produced at a Tata
factory in Ghaziabad, just outside Delhi, and were
first test marketed in the Delhi and Lucknow
regions. Developing these markets from the UK were
said to be not cost effective. Because India
already had strong links with many of the areas, an
alliance with Tata was thought to be a better
approach to develop the opportunities emerging.
Tata tea was said to be the largest integrated tea
company in the world. It had 52 tea estates and one
coffee estate in four Indian States, Assam, West
Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Employing 57,000
people black tea production was 53 million kgs per
year. This remarkable growth started in 1962 from a
joint venture with tea producer James Finlay &
Co. This was established to develop a packet and
instant tea for the domestic market but, after the
Indian tea industry ran into difficulties in 1980
Finlay decided to pull out and Tata Tea formed
their own business in 1983. The Irish company was formed in 1932 under the name of J.
Lyons & Co (I. F. S.) Ltd and was situated in
Dublin. Its main activity was blending, packaging
and selling tea and other grocery products. Green
Label tea was the most successful blend which sold
widely throughout Ireland both north and south.
However, Lyons had a number of other small
companies in Ireland: Hotel Russell Ltd, Old Ground
Hotel Ltd and Robert V. Moore (Dublin) Ltd. See
also Gateaux Ltd a large cake producer whose Molly
O'Rourke cake sold in many parts of the world
particularly in Australia and New Zealand. The J. Lyons name was registered in many countries across the
world including Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland
Japan, Venezuela, Cyprus, New Zealand and many
others. Some were established to manage Wimpy and
Ice Cream franchises and others were registered to
protect trade marks. These companies are not listed
here but some are listed under Miscellaneous
Businesses. The American companies are listed
separately under Subsidiary Companies and include:
Baskin-Robbins, Chock Full o' Nuts, DCA and
Dunkin' Donuts.
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