Iceland Foods Ltd is a British
supermarket chain headquartered in
Deeside
Deeside ( cy, Glannau Dyfrdwy) is the name given to a predominantly industrial conurbation of towns and villages in Flintshire and Cheshire on the Wales–England border lying near the canalised stretch of the River Dee that flows from nei ...
, Wales. It has an emphasis on the sale of frozen foods, including prepared meals and vegetables. They also sell non-frozen grocery items such as produce, meat, dairy and dry goods, and additionally through a chain of shops bearing the sub-brand name of The Food Warehouse.
History
Iceland Foods began business in 1970, when
Malcolm Walker opened the first store in Leg Street,
Oswestry,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
, England, with his business partner Peter Hinchcliffe. Together, they invested £60 for one month's rent at the store. They were still employees of
Woolworths at the time, and their employment was terminated once their employer discovered their other roles. Iceland Foods initially specialised in loose frozen food.
In 1977, they opened a store in Manchester selling own-labelled packaged food, and by 1978 the company had 28 stores.
![IcelandStoreExterior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/IcelandStoreExterior.jpg)
In 1983, the business grew by purchasing the 18 stores of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
-based St. Catherine's Freezer Centres, and in 1984 the business went public for the first time.
The cash investment was used to purchase South East-based Orchard Frozen Foods in 1986, and the purchase of larger rival
Bejam
Bejam was a British frozen food retailer founded by John Apthorp in 1968, based in Stanmore.
History
In 1968, the concept of selling only frozen foods was a novel idea at the time, and Bejam grew out of Apthorp's existing family business of ' ...
in 1988. In 1993, the firm took over the food halls of the
Littlewoods department store and also acquired the French Au Gel chain. This last move proved unsuccessful and the stores were dropped within a year.
Around 2000, the company attempted ties with
British Home Stores
British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, was a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to expand into furniture, electro ...
. In May 2000, Iceland Foods merged with
Booker plc, and Booker's
Stuart Rose took the role of CEO of the merged company. He left for the
Arcadia Group
Arcadia Group Ltd (formerly Arcadia Group plc and, until 1998, Burton Group plc) was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BH ...
in November 2000 and was replaced by
Bill Grimsey
William Grimsey (born 21 January 1952, in Kensington, London) is an English businessman who has specialised in the food and DIY sectors, most notably at Wickes, Iceland, and Focus (DIY).
Early career
Grimsey left school at 15 to become a butche ...
in January 2001.
![Iceland supermarket front](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Iceland_supermarket_front.jpg)
Soon after Grimsey's appointment, Malcolm Walker, Iceland Foods's founder and chairman, was forced to stand down, as it was revealed that he had sold £13.5 million of Iceland Foods shares just five weeks before the company released the first of several profits warnings.
Iceland Foods' holding company was renamed
the Big Food Group
The Big Food Group was a food retail and wholesale company based in the United Kingdom, UK. It was created in 2000 when the supermarket chain Iceland (supermarket), Iceland merged with Booker Cash & Carry plc.
The company was purchased by Icela ...
in February 2002,
and attempted a refocus on the convenience sector with a bid for
Londis.
Grimsey remained until the takeover and demerger of the Big Food Group by a consortium led by the Icelandic company
Baugur Group
Baugur Group (; Icelandic language, Icelandic: ) was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Ki ...
in February 2005. Walker subsequently returned to his previous role at Iceland Foods.
Iceland Foods's website has a page critical of Grimsey's period in control.
After Baugur collapsed in 2009, a 77% stake in the firm came into the ownership of the Icelandic banks
Landsbanki
Landsbanki (literally "national bank"), also commonly known as Landsbankinn (literally "the national bank") which is now the name of the current rebuilt bank (here called "New Landsbanki"), was one of the largest Icelandic commercial banks that f ...
and
Glitnir
Forseti (Old Norse "the presiding one", "president" in modern Icelandic and Faroese) is the god of justice and reconciliation in Norse mythology. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians.
Name
Grimm took ''Forseti'', "''pr ...
. In 2012 the stake was purchased by a consortium including Malcolm Walker and
Graham Kirkham
Graham Kirkham, Baron Kirkham, (born 14 December 1944) is an English businessman, the founder and chairman of sofa retailer DFS.
Previously executive chairman of DFS Furniture Company Ltd, Kirkham is a strong political and financial supporter ...
.
After Walker's return to the company, Iceland Foods reduced the workforce at the Deeside head office by 500, with approximately 300 jobs moved as a result of relocation of a distribution warehouse to
Warrington
Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...
.
![IcelandStoreInterior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/IcelandStoreInterior.jpg)
In January 2009, Iceland Foods announced that it would buy 51 stores in the UK from the failed
Woolworths Group
Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to:
Businesses
* F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores
* Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shops ...
chain, three days after the final 200 Woolworths stores closed their doors.
In April 2009, Iceland Foods announced plans to close its appliance showrooms by September 2009 to concentrate on food retailing. Iceland Foods's sales for the year ended 27 March 2009 were £2.08 billion, a 16% increase on the previous year, with net profits of £113.7 million.
An additional Iceland Foods store opened in Dudley town centre on 2 December 2010 in part of the former
Beatties department store, 21 years after their initial departure from the town.
In 2013, two labs, one in Ireland and another in Germany, on behalf of the Irish state agency FSAI, identified 0.1% equine DNA in some Iceland Foods products. Malcolm Walker caused controversy when on a BBC ''Panorama'' programme (18 February 2013) he was asked why the products had passed British tests but failed the Irish ones. He replied, "Well, that's the Irish, isn't it?".
In November 2013, the firm began selling appliances online again in partnership with
DRL Limited. In May 2014, the firm reintroduced online shopping, which had been dropped in 2007.
In January 2018, Iceland Foods announced that it would end the use of plastic for all of its own-brand products by the end of 2023.
In 2019, Iceland Foods opened 45 new stores in the UK (including 31 larger stores under The Food Warehouse fascia) but had also closed eight, increasing number of UK stores to 942. The company has a strategic alliance with
The Range, where Iceland's food offer has been introduced to nine of the home and garden retailer's stores. In 2019 it also expanded its warehousing locations, adding five multi-temperature regional distribution centres at
Livingston, Warrington, Deeside,
Enfield
Enfield may refer to:
Places Australia
* Enfield, New South Wales
* Enfield, South Australia
** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb
** Enfield High School (South Australia)
...
and Swindon.
Operations outside the UK
In 1996, eight stores were opened in Ireland, seven in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
and one in
Letterkenny
Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...
. They all closed down in 2005 owing to financial difficulties. In November 2008, Iceland Foods re-entered the Irish market, reopening a store in
Ballyfermot
Ballyfermot () is a suburb town nw of the city aside Dublin, Ireland. It is located, seven kilometres (5 miles) west of the city centre, south of Phoenix Park, it is bordered on the north by Chapelizod, on the south by Bluebell; on the east ...
in Dublin after agreeing a franchise deal with an Irish cash and carry company, AIM. In November 2009, a second Dublin store reopened in
Finglas
Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway, and the N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Dublin Airport is to the north. Finglas lies mainly in the posta ...
. In November 2013, Iceland Foods acquired seven Irish stores which were previously franchised.
Iceland Foods also operates stores in Spain and Portugal (countries with substantial British communities), in conjunction with Spanish-based retailer Overseas. The stores stock Iceland products as well as
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...
produce. In July 2012, in a joint venture with
Jóhannes Jónsson
Jóhannes Jónsson (31 August 1940 – 27 July 2013) was an Icelandic businessman and one of the founders of the investment company Baugur Group, which applied for bankruptcy protection in February 2009. His warm public personality and co-foundi ...
, co-founder of
Bónus and former Iceland owners
Baugur Group
Baugur Group (; Icelandic language, Icelandic: ) was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Ki ...
, the firm opened a store in
Kópavogur
Kópavogur () is a town in Iceland that is the country's second largest municipality by population.
It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region. The name literally means ''seal pup inlet''. The town seal contains t ...
, Iceland, and subsequently in the capital,
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
.
Sandpiper CI has six Iceland Foods franchise supermarkets in
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...
and four in
Guernsey.
Via franchise agreement with a local food importer and distributor, Iceland Foods operates in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. Initially, in 1998, this was for the supply only of Iceland Foods-branded products to supermarkets, but in 2015 the operation opened stores in
Birkirkara, followed by
Mosta
Mosta ( mt, Il-Mosta) is a small but densely populated city in the Northern Region of Malta. The most prominent building in Mosta is the Rotunda, a large basilica built by its parishioners' volunteer labour. It features the world's 3rd largest ...
,
Qawra
Qawra ( mt, Il-Qawra, ) is a zone within St. Paul's Bay in the Northern Region, Malta, Northern Region, Malta. It is located close to Buġibba and Salina, Malta, Salina, and it is a popular tourist resort, containing many hotels and restaurants.
...
and
Marsascala in 2018. The Malta stores differ from those in the UK: there is a greater emphasis on non-frozen items, and stores feature fresh fruit, vegetables and bakery sections.
Promotions
In 2006, a policy of "round sum pricing" was introduced,
with many products priced in multiples of 25p.
2006 also saw a surge in home delivery promotion, which is now one of the main focuses of the company. When a customer spends £25 or more whilst shopping in store, they have the option of free next-day home delivery, choosing from available timeslots. Customers can also shop online and receive free next day home delivery when they spend more than £40.
In October 2008, Iceland Foods launched the Bonus Card, a
loyalty card and replacement for the original home delivery card. It allows customers to save money onto the card, with the firm putting £1 onto the card each time a customer saves £20, and gives occasional discounts, offers, and entry to competitions—including their main competition, in which each month one Bonus Card holder from every store wins the entire cost of their shop.
Identity and marketing
Iceland Foods historically advertised with the slogan "Mums Love It", which was changed to "Are we doing a deal or are we doing a deal?" and "Feel the deal" in the early 2000s. From the mid-2000s ads featuring
Kerry Katona
Kerry Jayne Elizabeth Katona (born 6 September 1980) is a British media personality and singer. She was a member of girl group Atomic Kitten from 1998 until her first departure in 2001 and again from 2012 until her second departure in 2017.
...
saw a return to a slogan more traditionally associated with Iceland Foods – "So that's why mums go to Iceland!" Katona was dropped as the face of Iceland Foods in 2009, after a tabloid newspaper published pictures allegedly showing her taking
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
. She was succeeded by
Coleen Nolan
Coleen Patricia Nolan (born 12 March 1965) is an English singer, television personality, and author. She was a member of the girl group The Nolans from 1980 to 1994, in which she sang with her sisters. Since 2000, Nolan has been a regular panell ...
,
Ellie Taylor
Eleanor Jane Taylor is an English comedian, television personality, actress, and writer. After appearing on ''Show Me the Funny'' in 2011, Taylor has appeared on numerous television shows, including ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (2011–2017), '' Fake Re ...
,
Stacey Solomon
Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon-Swash (born 4 October 1989) is an English singer and television personality. She finished in third place on the sixth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2009, and won the tenth series of '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Ou ...
and
Jason Donovan, who has also frequently appeared in the company's Christmas advertisement campaigns.
Peter Andre
Peter Andre (born Peter James Andrea, 27 February 1973) is an English-Australian singer and television personality of Australian descent.
Andre gained popularity as a singer, best known for his singles "Mysterious Girl" and " Flava". He is als ...
is the current face of the firm. The current main tagline is the truncated "That's why mums go to Iceland". Store fronts also bear the tagline "food you can trust", and carrier bags in stores bear the tagline "the frozen food experts". Since May 2015, the TV adverts have used the tagline and
hashtag of "Power Of Frozen" and are fronted and voiced over by
Peter Andre
Peter Andre (born Peter James Andrea, 27 February 1973) is an English-Australian singer and television personality of Australian descent.
Andre gained popularity as a singer, best known for his singles "Mysterious Girl" and " Flava". He is als ...
.
When the chain bought rival
Bejam
Bejam was a British frozen food retailer founded by John Apthorp in 1968, based in Stanmore.
History
In 1968, the concept of selling only frozen foods was a novel idea at the time, and Bejam grew out of Apthorp's existing family business of ' ...
in 1989, they launched the TV-advertising campaign "Use Our Imagination," which included a song. The campaign was launched so quickly after the takeover that they had no time to convert all Bejam stores to the "Iceland" fascia. Therefore, the song for the commercial featured the line "We're at Bejam's too..."
In 2013, Iceland Foods stores appeared in a BBC documentary called ''
Iceland Foods: Life in The Freezer Cabinet''. The firm was the main sponsor of the
ITV reality TV show ''
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' from its
sixth series in 2006 until its
fourteenth series in 2014.
In 2018, Iceland announced they would end use of
palm oil in all their own brand products due to concern over
environmental impact of palm oil. It was the first major UK supermarket to ban palm oil.
In January 2020/2021, Iceland Foods stores appeared in two
Channel 5 series called ''Inside Iceland: Britain’s Budget Supermarket''.
Sub-brands
![Swift Four Lane Ends](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Swift_Four_Lane_Ends.jpg)
In 2014 Iceland Foods announced a sub-brand, The Food Warehouse, a larger wholesale-type store which sells the same items as other Iceland Foods stores, but in bulk.
As of 2021 there are 140 Food Warehouse stores.
In April 2021, Iceland Foods announced another sub-brand, Swift, for convenience stores.
Controversies
Dispute over the trademark "Iceland"
Iceland Foods Ltd has been accused by the government of
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
of engaging in abusive behaviour by trademarking the name of the country, and of "harass
ngIcelandic companies and even the Icelandic tourism board" by pursuing legal action against Icelandic companies which use the name of their country in their trading names.
In November 2016, the Icelandic government filed a legal challenge at the
European Union Intellectual Property Office
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO; french: links=no, Office de l'Union européenne pour la propriété intellectuelle), founded in 1994, is the European Union Agency responsible for the registration of the European Union trad ...
(EUIPO) to have the company's trademark invalidated "on the basis that the term 'Iceland' is exceptionally broad and ambiguous in definition, often rendering the country's firms unable to describe their products as Icelandic".
The ''Iceland Magazine'' noted that:
Iceland Foods was founded in 1970, but only acquired the Europe wide trademark registration of "Iceland" in 2005. According to the Sagas Iceland, the nation, was established in 874. It is an insult to common sense to maintain that the supermarket chain has a stronger claim to the trademark than the country.
In April 2019, The EUIPO invalidated the Iceland trademark.
2018 Rang-tan advert controversy and ban
In November 2018, Iceland Foods submitted a version of an animated short starring a fictional
orangutan
Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...
named Rang-tan (originally released by
Greenpeace) to
Clearcast
Clearcast is a non-governmental organisation which pre-approves most British television advertising. It came into being on 1 January 2008 and took over the responsibilities of the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre. Clearcast is now owned by ...
, but the
submission was denied.
Iceland Foods originally planned to utilise the short as the television advertisement that Christmas season, as an extension of their earlier
palm oil reduction campaign.
Outlets
![Iceland In Spain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Iceland_In_Spain.jpg)
There were 11 outlets in the Czech Republic, operated by ICL Czech, until they closed in 2022.
References
External links
Iceland (UK)Iceland (Ireland)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iceland (Supermarket)
British companies established in 1970
Privately held companies of the United Kingdom
Retail companies established in 1970
Retail companies of the United Kingdom
Supermarkets of Spain
Supermarkets of Portugal
Supermarkets of the Czech Republic
Supermarkets of the Republic of Ireland
Supermarkets of the United Kingdom
Welsh brands
1970 establishments in Wales