Batchelors is a popular brand of predominantly dried food products. The Bachelors company was founded in 1895 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England by William Batchelor, initially specialising in canned vegetables. It released its first dried soup in 1949, and it started selling its convenience Cup-a-Soup range in 1972. The company now makes pasta and rice dishes like "Pasta 'n' Sauce" and "Super Rice" along with instant soup, in particular Cup-a-Soup and noodle products such as ''

Super Noodles Super Noodles is the brand name of a dehydrated instant noodle snack, made by Batchelors in the United Kingdom (previously made by Kellogg's) and sold under the McDonnells brand in Ireland. They are prepared by being placed in a pot of boilin ...

''. The company is the UK market leader in dried soups. Since early 2008, the Batchelors name has also been applied to

Premier Foods Premier Foods plc is a British food manufacturer headquartered in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The group owns many well-known brands, including Mr Kipling, Ambrosia, Bird's Custard, Angel Delight, Homepride cooking sauces, Lyons, Sharwood's, Loyd ...

' condensed soup range, previously sold as

Campbell's Campbell Soup Company, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has grown to become ...

. The Campbell's brand returned to the UK in 2011, after a five-year non-compete agreement expired.

History

William Batchelor was born in Habrough, Lincolnshire, in 1860 to Ellen, née Hudson, and James Batchelor, a farmworker who later had his own farm. William discovered a way to can vegetables such as processed peas and formed Batchelors Foods in 1895. He died in August 1913 whilst on holiday in

Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...

. He was 53. His daughter Ella (who became Ella Gasking), aged 22, took over leadership of the company and developed it to include processed peas, with Batchelors eventually becoming a household name.

Ella Hudson Gasking Ella Hudson Gasking, ''née'' Batchelor (4 April 1891 – 17 December 1966), was a prominent British businesswoman in the food manufacturing sector as chairman and managing director of Batchelors, and was one of Sheffield's best-known industr ...

(1891–1966) often known as Mrs. E. H. Gasking, took over the family business of Batchelor's Peas, opening a new factory at

Wadsley Bridge Wadsley Bridge is a suburb of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, northwest of the city centre. The area is a mixture of residential housing and small industrial and commercial premises. The suburb falls within the Hillsborough ward of the City ...

in 1937 costing £100,000 to build. It was the largest canning plant in Britain, covering 12 acres including playing fields & speaker radios for staff. In 1943 Mrs Gasking was awarded OBE in recognition of her contribution to war effort & grocery industry. Due to staff difficulties and

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

in the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, the company was bought by James Van den Bergh of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

in 1943, where it became part of Van den Bergh Foods (later based in

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

). In 1948, Ella Gasking retired and her younger brother Maurice Batchelor took over. The company took over Poulton and Noel, another soup company. In 1949, the first dried soup, chicken noodle flavour, was sold. In 1972, Cup-a-Soup was launched. In January 2001, Unilever took over

Bestfoods Hellmann's and Best Foods are American brand names that are used for the same line of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, sauce, salad dressing, condiments and other food products. They have been owned by the British multinational company Unilever sinc ...

. To be allowed to take over the American company, Unilever had to sell off some brands for monopoly regulation. It sold off Batchelors and Oxo to the UK subsidiary of the

Campbell Soup Company Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...

. Unilever retained ownership of the Cup-a-Soup brand in America and Australia, rebranding them under Lipton and Continental respectively. In 2006, Campbell's soup withdrew from the UK market, and sold its assets, including Batchelors, to

. The Campbell's name was licensed to Premier Foods until 2008, following which Campbell's Soup was rebranded as Batchelors. In 2008, Batchelors was rebranded with a new logo.

History

References

External links