Spillers
Spillers Ltd was a British company that owned flour milling operations, operated bakeries and also sold pet food and equine feeds.
 | |
| Industry | Food |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired |
| Founded | 1829 |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Headquarters | New Malden, Surrey |
Key people | Joel Spiller (founder) |
History
Winalot is a popular brand of dog food sold by Spillers.[1] The name was first used in 1927 for dog biscuits. They were initially marketed as a food for racing greyhounds, but soon gained popularity with pet-owners and became a brand leader in the 1930s.[2]
In 1947, Spillers acquired Foster Mill next to the railway station in Station Road, Cambridge.[3]
In 1964, Spillers took over the Kennomeat dog food brand with its acquisition of a subsidiary of Robert Wilson & Sons, Scottish Animal Products Ltd.[2]
In 1978, Spillers acquired Modern Maid Food Products Inc of Garden City, NJ (NYSE:MMF).[4]
In 1979 Spillers was acquired by Dalgety plc,[5] after a hostile take-over battle. The company's bakery business was spun off and sold to Allied Bakeries.[6]
In the late 1990s, following a BSE crisis in the United Kingdom, Dalgety entered into a series of disposals and sold Spillers flour milling operations to Kerry Group plc in 1997[7] and its pet foods business to Nestlé in 1997.[8]
The Spillers business was expanded by Nestlé, and the Winalot brand was extended to include a range of dry and tinned dogfoods and snacks.
External links
Titanic biscuit From a lifeboat - goes on auction
References
- Winalot.
- Purina: Our History.
- Station Road: Foster Mill, Cambridge 2000.
- https://www.sec.gov/news/digest/1978/dig101678.pdf
- Company History Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Allied Bakeries corporate site Archived 2013-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Dalegety sells its food ingredients business for £360m PR Newswire, 1997
- Sale of Spillers Petfoods for £715m PR Newswire, 1997