Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

Registered UK Charity (No. 1154342)

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 167,647 pages of information and 247,064 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Oriel Foods

From Graces Guide

of Liverpool

1969 Company formed in order to merge Liverpool Central Oil with Radcliffe's Edible Products.[1]

1972 Acquired Thomas Robinson, Sons and Co, food distributors, as a result of which Ralli International gained control of Oriel Foods[2]

1973 James Gulliver, chief executive of Fine Fare, acquired 30 percent of Oriel from Ralli and took over as chairman and chief executive[3]

1973 Acquired A. B. Gibson of Nottingham, a privately-owned wholesale grocer.[4][5]

1973 Acquired Burton, Allton and Johnson[6]

1973 The business was expanding fast and could soon move into food retailing as well as developing in other non-food areas. RCA Corporation took a stake as a diversification move, even though its food interests were so far only in the USA[7] . James Gulliver was tied to the company for at least 7 years.

1974 Acquired by RCA Corporation (of USA).[8]. Acquired Morris and David Jones

1976 The company controlled shops under the VG and Mace brands; it also had interests in wholesaling, frozen foods, cash and carry warehouses, and tea and coffee; offered for sale by RCA[9]

1976 Gulliver and other senior executives announced their intentions to leave[10]

1977 Wholesale business sold to Booker McConnell[11]

1978 Gulliver and his colleagues took control of Morgan Edwards, a small food distributor business in Shrewsbury[12]

1980 Acquired by Argyll Foods, a new group being built up by Gulliver[13]


See Also

Loading...

Sources of Information

  1. Liverpool Daily Post - Saturday 22 March 1969
  2. The Times Nov. 8, 1972
  3. The Times Jan. 6, 1973
  4. The Times Feb. 22, 1973
  5. Newark Advertiser - Friday 26 April 1991
  6. The Times Dec. 7, 1973
  7. The Times Sept. 24, 1973
  8. Irish Independent - Saturday 13 July 1974
  9. The Times June 12, 1976
  10. The Times Dec. 10, 1976
  11. The Times July 16, 1977
  12. The Times May 23, 1978
  13. The Times Dec. 16, 1980