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Baxters Food Group Limited, also known as Baxters of Speyside or Baxters, is a Scottish food processing company, based in Fochabers, Moray, Scotland. Baxters is best known for canned soups, made to unique recipes, such as Royal Game. It also makes a range of jams, pickled vegetables and chutneys. The company holds the Royal Warrant for manufacturers of Scottish specialities from Her Majesty the Queen. The company was known as W.A. Baxter & Sons Ltd. prior to 21 December 2006. ==History== Baxters was founded in 1868 by 25 year old gardener George Baxter when he borrowed £100 from family members and established a grocery shop in Fochabers, Moray. George’s wife Margaret Baxter supported her husband by making jams and jellies using local fruits. In 1916 George and Margaret’s son, William Baxter, purchased land from the Duke of Richmond and Gordon and with his wife, Ethel Baxter, built a factory adjacent to the River Spey, to the east of Fochabers. The Baxters shop became known for supplying pickles and preserves and began preparing their own beetroot, and selling it to other grocers. Ethel began producing a range of jams, whilst William promoted the business throughout Scotland. A canning machine was hired by Ethel in 1923 in order to can local fruit in syrup, such as strawberries, raspberries and plums, with Baxters becoming one of the first companies in Scotland to do so. Ethel started creating a variety of soups using local produce in 1929, including the famous ''Royal Game'' using venison from Upper Speyside. The Baxter family were now supplying upmarket department stores in London such as Harrods and Fortnum & Mason. During the Second World War, the company survived principally by producing jam for the armed forces. Ena and Gordon Baxter joined the company in 1952. Ena, an artist and cook, helped expand the range of Scottish soups on offer to include traditional Scottish recipes such as Cock-a-leekie, Scotch Broth and Chicken Broth. In 1955 Baxters was granted royal warrants of appointment by HM Queen Elizabeth II, The Queen Mother and HM Gustav VI, King of Sweden for the manufacturer of Scottish food specialties. In the 1960s Baxters was supplying goods worldwide and in 1962 it was the first company in the United Kingdom to introduce twist-top caps to 12oz jars for preserves. By the 1980s Baxters had become a leading premium soup brand and began promoting more exotic soup flavours. Despite the increasing size of the company, Baxters maintained an image as a "family business", with a series of advertisements showing the Baxter family heavily involved in the preparation of their products. Gordon Baxter’s daughter Audrey Baxter became Managing Director in 1992 who along with her brother Andrew Baxter developed a range of new products. Gordon Baxter died in 2013 (aged 95), and Ena Baxter in 2015 (aged 90).〔http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-30897005〕 In the 21st century they have bought up other food companies, including Garner’s Foods Ltd in 2001〔()〕 and CCL Foods plc in 2003. The company sold off its chilled soups division to Northern Foods in 2008. In November 2011 the company acquired the Fray Bentos range of pies and other canned meat products from Princes Ltd. Princes had been forced to sell the brand on competition grounds having acquiring it from Premier Foods as part of the purchase of Premier's canned food division. By January 2013 production-line equipment and the manufacturing of Fray Bentos products had been transferred from Long Sutton in Lincolshire to the Baxters facility in Fochabers. The production line is accommodated in a two storey extension to the factory and initial production levels were 67,000 tinned pies per week. Fray Bentos was named after the town of Fray Bentos in Uruguay, from which it originally imported meat into the UK.〔http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/f8f05ec2-b9f9-11e0-b7a9-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3oz5or7nL〕 Fray Bentos was bought by Campbell’s in 1993 and sold onto Premier Foods as part of the sale of the US food group’s UK assets in 2006. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baxters」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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