Peek freaks
| Peek freaks
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|---|---|
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| legal form | |
| founding | 1857 |
| Seat | until 1989 in Bermondsey |
| Branch | Food |
| Website | http://brands.kraftfoods.com/peekfreans |
Peek Freans was an English biscuit and pastry company based in Bermondsey , London. The head office was at 100 Clements Road.
history
The company was in 1857 by James Peek and George Henderson Frean as Peek, Frean & Co. founded. From 1861 the first exports went to Australia , later Buenos Aires , Alexandria and India were added. In 1866, the Dockhead factory had grown to such an extent that it moved to Bermondsey at 100 Clements Road, where it remained until it closed in 1989. Peek Freans became one of the main employers in the area, which is why Bermondsey became popularly known as " Biscuit Town ". During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, 10 million cookies were made for the Navy. From the 1870s, biscuits were exported to Ontario , Canada. In 1906 the documentary A Visit to Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works was shot about the factory.
The company has received several awards and is a supplier to many European courts, including royal British and imperial court purveyors .
In 1921, Peek Frean entered into a merger agreement with rival cookie maker Huntley & Palmers to create a holding company, although each company continued to run its own brands and factories.
In 1924 the first foreign factory was established in Dum Dum , India. The manufacturing facilities later expanded to Bombay and Delhi in the 1930s . In 1931 the subsidiary Peek Freans Pty., Ltd. founded in Australia. After World War II , the bakery on O'Connor Drive in East York , Ontario began production. Sales increased by 15%. In the 1940s the number of employees rose to 4,000.
The company played a pioneering role in providing medical, dental and ophthalmic preventive care for employees and encouraged the establishment of athletics , cricket , music and theater clubs . Sometimes entire generations of families worked at Peek Freans. Staff magazines were The Biscuit Box and Peek Freans Assorted .
Throughout history, the company's name was changed from Peek, Frean and Co to Peek Frean in the early 20th century , and then to Peek Freans in the 1970s .
1969 merged with Peek Freans Huntley & Palmers and other Keksherstellern the Associated Biscuit Manufacturers Ltd . Peek Freans and was later taken over by the American company Nabisco .
The factory was closed in May 1989 after more than 120 years by its then owner Nabisco on the grounds that there were too many production facilities in England. Nabisco in England later became Jacob's Bakery, which in turn was bought by Danone . Peek Freans continued to exist as a Kraft Foods brand in Canada and the United States until the 1990s.
In 2005 the Pumphouse Education Museum in Rotherhithe opened a permanent exhibition about peek freaks with the help of former employees and the financial support of the National Lottery . In the same year a blue plaque was unveiled on the former biscuit factory. The University of Reading has an extensive archive covering the years 1831–1957.
Products
Well-known products were the Garibaldi introduced in 1861 , Marie in 1875 and the Chocolate Table biscuit coated in chocolate . In 1902, Peek Freans brought the very successful, inexpensive Pat-a-Cake shortbread biscuits onto the market. In 1910 the first cream sandwich biscuits known as bourbon were introduced. The Golden Puff was launched in 1909 and the Glaxo in 1923 . With the increasing popularity of cocktails , the cheeselet and twiglet were introduced in the 1930s.
At the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II , the two meter high cake was made by Peek Freans. A copy of this cake is in the Pumphouse Educational Museum in Rotherhithe.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Discover the English Biscuit Heritage of Peek Freans. Kraft Foods> Peak Freans, accessed February 21, 2010 .
- ↑ A Visit to Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works. Internet Movie Database , accessed May 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Colette Hibbert: Biscuit factory makes 'comeback'. BBC News UK, February 8, 2005, accessed February 21, 2010 : " Former employee Graham Stephens, 71, who worked there from 1957 until 1987, told BBC News that generations of families often worked at the factory. "
- ^ Peek Freans: A brief history of Peek, Frean and Company Limited. The Pumphouse Educational Trust, accessed February 21, 2010 (Manuscript number MS 1216).
- ↑ Blue plaque winners 2005. (No longer available online.) London Borough of Southwark, archived from the original on August 19, 2009 ; accessed on February 21, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Records of Peek Frean. University of Reading, accessed February 21, 2010 (English, manuscript number MS 1216).
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 29 '53 " N , 0 ° 3' 50" W.