Bakkavor Group plc (originally Bakkavör) is an international

food manufacturing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the mak ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

specialising in fresh prepared foods. The group's head office is in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. Bakkavor operates 46 factory sites in the UK, US and China. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...

History

Bakkavör was founded in 1986 by the two brothers Ágúst and Lýður Guðmundsson to manufacture and export

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

roe Roe, ( ) or hard roe, is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooking, c ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. In 1993 the company became the first production company in Iceland to obtain a ISO:9002 certification for

quality assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...

. By 1997 the company had expanded into Scandinavian and European markets selling cod and lumpfish roe. By October 2000, Bakkavor had an annual turnover of over 4.5 billion ISK. They expanded the business by selling

convenience food Convenience food (also called tertiary processed food) is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) for ease of consumption, and is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily portable, have ...

s. The company acquired Katsouris Fresh Foods in 1997, Wine & Dine in 2000, and Geest in 2005. In early 2003, the company sold its Icelandic components to Fram Foods ehf. and began focusing on the UK market. By 2005 the company had over 13,000 employees. After the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, Bakkavör was heavily indebted, forcing the Guðmundsson brothers into emergency talks with the company's bondholders. The founding brothers repurchased a major stake in Bakkavör from their investment company, Exista, in 2009. The company delisted from the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

OMX in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in 2010 and became a

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in Privately held company, "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a Public company, publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Example ...

. Lýður and Ágúst Guðmundsson faced fraud charges in Iceland in 2012 relating to their ownership of Exista. Between 2013 and 2015 the company simplified its structure, selling its South African operation and a 40% stake in its Italian business later in the year, along with other operations in Continental Europe. The company acquired US prepared foods' manufacturer B. Robert's Foods in January 2015. In January 2016, Bakk AL Holdings Limited, a company owned by Ágúst and Lýður Guðmundsson and funds managed by The Baupost Group, LLC, purchased shares in the company, taking its ownership to approximately 89% of the outstanding shares. In April 2017, many supermarkets had to recall the company's

hummus Hummus (, ; , , also spelled hommus or houmous), (full name: Hummus Bi Tahini) is a Levantine cuisine, Levantine Dip (food), dip, spread (food), spread, or savory Dish (food), dish made from cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, le ...

because of poor quality control. In November 2017 the company floated on the

, in their

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. Bakkvor acquired Blueberry Foods of Leicester, UK in 2019, a dessert manufacturer. In 2022, Ágúst Guðmundsson stepped down as CEO and appointed Mike Edwards as its successor. On 27 September 2024, more than 400 staff at the Bakkavor factory in Spalding, Lincolnshire went on a strike in a dispute over pay. Bakkavor said it had offered 7.8% pay rises to its lowest paid workers and 6.4% to other staff. It said about 35% of the workforce was on strike, with the remaining 800 continuing to work at the site as normal, In November 2024, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' reported that the strike action was causing shortages of taramasalata in UK supermarkets, and ''

The Grocer ''The Grocer'' is a British digital and magazine service devoted to grocery sales, published by William Reed Ltd. It has been published since 1862. The Grocer 33 A feature of the service is 'The Grocer 33'. This is a survey of each of the fi ...

'' reported that some chilled soups were out of stock.

Operations

The company produces a range of meals, salads, desserts, dips, sauces, sandwiches and pizza and bread products. Bakkavor produces over 3,200 product categories to over 900 supplies in the UK, United States and China. Bakkavor operates 23 factories in the UK, 9 in the United States and 5 in China.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakkavor British companies established in 1986 Convenience food companies Food and drink companies established in 1986 Food manufacturers based in London Seafood companies of the United Kingdom 1986 establishments in England Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Fish processing companies Companies in the FTSE 250 Index