A history of Roberts Bakery
Roberts Bakery, part of the Frank Roberts and Sons group, is a thriving modern bakery business but it all began over one hundred years ago in 1887 with our founder Robert Roberts when he opened his own corner shop, selling and delivery groceries, including bread, to the local community in Castle, Northwich.
A family affair
Robert was born in 1857 and learnt his trade at the age of 11 when he was sent to Robert Ramsbottom Baker and Flour Dealer in Salford to complete his apprenticeship in bread baking and grocery retailing. From there he worked for the grocery retailer Richard Hall in Knutsford before buying his first shop at 1 Wellington Street in Castle, Northwich.
The business and the family quickly expanded and in 1900 Robert moved to larger premises on Station Road, Lostock Gralam, Northwich and added a small bakery to his grocery shop to cope with the growing demand for bread. By this time his only son Frank was following in his father’s footsteps and after completing his apprenticeship he joined the business to work alongside his father in developing the bakery and delivery service. In 1920 the business became a true family concern when it was renamed Roberts’ Central Stores (Lostock) Limited and shares were issued to Robert’s wife Mary and their children Frank, Annie, Alice, Ada and Nellie.
Technology advances in the bread baking industry moved at a fast pace during the 1920’s and 30’s, seeing the introduction of bread slicers and wrapping machines in the larger bakeries of Manchester and Liverpool. Robert Roberts died in 1936 at the age of 80, leaving Frank in charge of the family business. With competition intensifying and the ambition to push the bakery further, Frank made the decision to move away from grocery retailing and specialise in bread baking.
Expanding the business
There was little space for development at the site in Lostock Gralam but Frank Roberts did not have to look very far to find the ideal location for expanding the business. In 1937, Alfred Middleton, a family friend who ran a bakery in Northwich was contemplating retirement and agreed to sell his site to Frank. The new acquisition increased the baking capacity dramatically – from 2 to 8 bakers – and profits more than doubled. By 1941 there were 26 employees with six delivery vans supplying over 60 shops in the mid-Cheshire area.
Business was tough during the war years, despite bakers being one of the reserved occupations. Many of the van salesmen were called up to the war effort but, with a lot of hard work from those left at the bakery, the company survived and even participated in government plans for the national sale of bread rations. By the end of the war all bread production had moved to the Middleton bakery and the bakery at Lostock was converted into a small confectionery baker. A new generation of the Roberts family also began to get involved in the company as Franks’ sons, Alan, Bernard and David joined the business over the coming years.
The move to Rudheath, Northwich
By this time bread baking had become a fully fledged industry with the plant bakeries of Manchester and Liverpool piling the pressure onto smaller cottage industries. Frank Roberts was determined that the company wouldn’t fall by the wayside and in 1952 the company moved to its current site and constructed a new purpose-built bakery, the ‘Red Rose Bakery’, on farm land in Rudheath, Northwich. This new bakery was ideally situated for the major roads in the county and, when it was built 11 years later, the M6 motorway. The new bakery could bake around 600 loaves of bread an hour and employed 12 bakers.
To signal the new beginning at Rudheath, the company also changed its name to ‘Frank Roberts and Sons Limited’. Business flourished and during the 1950s and 60s the new bakery was extended considerably to increase capacity and treble bread production.
Sadly Frank Roberts died in 1954 at the age of 57 and the business was handed down to his sons, with his eldest son Alan at the helm. Continuous investment in the bakery resulted in an output of 90,000 loaves a week by 1962 and by 1967 over 200 people were employed by the business and it operated a delivery fleet of 50 vehicles.
By the early 1970s bread production was running at 3,500 loaves an hour and in 1977 Roberts Bakery joined forces with Sainsbury’s, supplying both branded and own label bread; the first of many successful retailer alliances. The fourth generation of the Roberts family also began to join the business with Mike and Julia Roberts joining in 1976, closely followed by Lindsay Roberts who joined the company in 1983.
Overseas ventures
The company celebrated its centenary in 1987 as a dynamic and successful multi million pound business. Never afraid to invest and keep pace with the industry, Roberts Bakery continued to develop and diversify during the 80’s with the introduction of mass bread roll production and expansion in into foodservice and export markets.
The quality reputation of Roberts Bakery began to spread far and wide and in 1993 the first batch of Roberts bread was frozen and exported to Greece. Still a major element of the bakery business today, our exports are sent across Europe, America and into Asia, even travelling as far as Japan.
The company today
Today Roberts Bakery continues to go from strength to strength with its mix of branded retail bread, own label and foodservice customers. The iconic cooling towers at the front of the bakery were built in the year 2000 and bread production now runs at over 13,000 loaves an hour or 1.6 million a week.
As the company heads towards its 125thanniversary in 2012, the markets for bread continue to evolve and the Rudheath bakery is embarking on its largest ever investment with a major site development programme. The ambitious £8.5 million project, which will be completed in Summer 2011, will provide a new dispatch facility and more than 3000m2 of extra floor space and enable the company to uphold the values instilled by Robert Roberts in his original vision – freshly baked, great tasting products, made with the finest quality ingredients.
