Cavenham Foods

The company was founded by Sir James Goldsmith in 1964 as Cavenham Ltd to purchase Carr's, the biscuit manufacturer, changing the company name in 1965 to Cavenham Foods.[1][2] The company was named after Goldsmith's father Frank's farm in Suffolk and was listed on the London Stock Exchange.[3] The company continued to expand, by moving into the low calorie flour market with the purchase of Procea Products during 1965,[4] planning to launch slimming products which had been a success for Goldsmith in France. To expand his business he took a £1 million loan out with Great Universal Stores Sir Isaac Wolfson, who charged a whopping 100 percent interest.[5] In 1971 Cavenham acquired the Bovril Company for £13.4 million after a battle with Rowntree Mackintosh and Beechams,[4] then sold its dairies to Grand Metropolitan's Express Dairies division for £6.3 million, and Bovril's South American farming operations.[6][7][2][8] Later that year Cavenham Foods bought the controlling shares in Wright's Biscuits, which in turn controlled Moores Stores, from Willie Webster for £6.5 million.[9][10] Cavenham completed the purchase of the remaining shares against hostile shareholders.[11][12] At the time Moores had 685 stores, while in addition to it's biscuit business, Wright's operated 488 grocery stores.[13] However Cavenham sold Wright's Biscuits, Wright's subsidiary Kemp Biscuits, and the famous Carr's to United Biscuits in 1972 for $10 million, retaining the Moore Stores business.[14][15]

These take-overs came quickly and included Allied Suppliers (a British supermarket business) for £86m in 1972, the Grand Union Company (an American supermarket business) for £62m in 1973, Colonial Stores (another American supermarket business) for £133m in 1978 and J. Weingarten Inc. (also an American supermarket business) in 1979.[8]

Goldsmith divested most of his investments in the early 1980s.[8] The main British part of the business, Allied Suppliers, went to Argyll Foods.[16]

The character of Richard de Vere, and his fictional company Cavendish Foods in the BBC comedy To the Manor Born, were a thinly veiled dig at James Goldsmith and Cavenham.[17]