Lees Foods Limited, commonly known as Lees of Scotland, is a manufacturer of branded
confectionery and meringues in
Coatbridge
Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbrid ...
,
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...
, Scotland.
History
The company was founded in 1931 by John Justice Lees, the son of a grocer on Newland Street in Coatbridge.
Lees had been attempting to create a smooth chocolate fondant bar in a workshop above the family shop in Newlands Street. Although unsuccessful, he attempted to coat the bar in
coconut as an experiment, leading to the recipe for the Lees Macaroon bar.
[
The original products manufactured by Lees are the Lees Macaroon bar and the Lees Snowball. The company subsequently added other products, later adding tablet, ]fudge
Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline can ...
and coconut ice bars.
In 1982, Lees set up Heather Cameron Foods, expanding the company to manufacture meringues. Lees bought out the company seven years later, becoming the outright owner. The company suffered losses during the 1980s, and was sold to Fine Foods in 1991. Two years later, it regained independent ownership.
Operations
Lees ran two factories based in Coatbridge, one making Heather Cameron meringues and the other snowballs, teacakes and confectionery bars. In August 1998, the company moved into a premises which catered for the entire company's product range. The factory employs around 200 people around Coatbridge, and reported a £26.4m turnover in 2017. It houses nine separate production lines, and uses cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mu ...
technology to operate a just-in-time supply system. The company makes 80% of its sales in Scotland, as the rest of the United Kingdom is less familiar with tablet or macaroon.[
The company slogan is "Lees, Lees, more if you please".]
References
{{reflist
External links
Lees of Scotland
(official website)
Scottish confectionery
Scottish brands
Food and drink companies established in 1931
1931 establishments in Scotland
British companies established in 1931