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Lyons
Seafoods Ltd (Flying Goose Ltd)
This
profitable company had a relatively short
history, as far as Lyons were concerned.
It was bought in 1985 and sold in December
1994. It dominated the market for
own-brand frozen prawns with sales of
£55 million per year.
In
1958 a Danish businessman, Per Jensen, was
on a fact finding tour of Britain to study
farming methods and business
opportunities. He joined forces with a
Major Briggs who had an estate at Codford,
near Warminster, Wiltshire, which included
the flying goose furlong. The two formed a
company which they called Flying Goose
Ltd, to raise, process and market
ducklings for the hotel and catering trade
within a sixty-mile radius of Warminster.
By 1961 the business had been expanded
beyond ducklings to poultry of all kinds,
and to them was added a range of frozen
products, including poultry, meat, fish,
and vegetables, some of which was
imported.
In
1965 Flying Goose Ltd decided to
specialise in the importation of frozen
poultry and seafood with the emphasis on
prawns. Prawns soon began to dominate the
business and by 1971 poultry was dropped
and Flying Goose became the leading
importer of prawns and shrimps in the UK.
Two
types of prawns were processed, those from
the cold waters of Norway, Iceland and
Greenland and the others from the warmer
waters of India, Pakistan and Thailand.
Some small amount were imported from
China. Apart from own-label packaging
Flying Goose did have their own brand
known as Dan-Maid. Other seafoods such as
scampi, whitebait, mussels, squid,
octopus, mackerel and salmon were
gradually offered to their markets.
The
main factory was situated in the village
of Corsham with a second plant situated in
Warminster and a third at Codford. Codford
had its own laboratories where extensive
quality control was carried out.
collective 330 people were employed in the
UK with a handful of others in the buying
offices in Pakistan and Thailand.
In
1986 a programme of new product
development started in order to keep
abreast of the of changing consumer
trends. The chilled sector which was said
to have a growth rate of 110% per annum
was identified as a target area. A range
of seafood in sauces was launched, the
first under the name of Lyons, called
Prawnnaise. The range of nine items
included Cooked King Prawns, Shell on Cold
Water Prawns, Seafood Cocktail and
Whitebait.
Flying
Goose changed its name to Lyons Seafoods
Ltd in about 1986 and Lyons
disposed of the company in December 1994.
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