Breaking news: Bakery Products acquires North East supermarket supplier Tindale & Stanton

Tindale & Stanton logo

A family-run bakery and supermarket supplier based in County Durham has been saved from closure.

Bakery Products Limited has acquired the assets and goodwill of Hobson Foods Limited (in administration), which traded as Tindale & Stanton. The new business will continue to trade as Tindale & Stanton Limited from its existing premises in Burnopfield, near Gateshead. Bakery Products already owns the Woodhead Bakery in Scarborough, which it rescued from administration earlier this year, and has gone on to become a major supplier to the UGO supermarket chain.

Woodhead store in the bakery's native Scarborough (24 Jun 2011)

A familiar brand to many in the North East, Tindale & Stanton is a long-established, traditional baker originally founded by Bill Tindale. Serving the region for over 25 years, there are two main parts to the business: supply of a full range of bakery products to local retailers, fish and chips shops and cafés via its modern refrigerated vehicle fleet; and a wholesale division supplying a number of national supermarket chains and retailers with branded pies and baked goods.

In August this year, the company unveiled a ‘beef and broon’ pie, made with locally sourced Mordue ale and Northumbrian beef, and sold in Asda stores across the North East – part of a range that the new owners intend to retain and grow.

In recent years, however, Tindale & Stanton has also faced some challenges. After the business collapsed into administration in 2008, former managing director Peter Frankland formed Hobson Foods to rescue the business’s production facilities in Burnopfield and Gateshead, and 160 of its 300 jobs. A year ago, the smaller Gateshead bakery was closed, with its 16 staff transferred to the headquarters on Burnopfield’s Hobson Industrial Estate.

Last year, the business reported a slightly increased pre-tax profit of £122,689 on sales of £7m for the year ending May 2010. I understand, however, that recent sales have suffered as a result of lost business following Asda’s takeover of Netto. Tindale & Stanton was previously a major supplier to Netto, accounting for annual sales of £2.5m – or more than a third of its total turnover.

Netto store in Gateshead

Commenting on the acquisition, a spokesperson for Bakery Products told Soult’s Retail View:

“When Hobson Foods became available, we saw a unique opportunity to save a successful business that shares our traditional family bakery ethics.

“Tindale & Stanton will complement and enhance the current range offered by the Woodhead Bakery. The two businesses have strong synergies in that each is well known and respected in its respective geographical area with a focus on quality, range and value for money

“The acquisition also facilitates economies of scale through shared management and resources and opens up a variety of new opportunities to grow the Bakery Products business.

“It is planned that the 122 Tindale & Stanton staff in place when the acquisition was agreed will retain their positions. However, we understand that, regrettably, a small number of redundancies have taken place over the last few weeks.

“This is the start of a brand new era for the business which we firmly believe has a very bright future.”

As I reported earlier this month, Woodhead-branded bread, cakes and pies have already been selling well in UGO, with customers seemingly appreciating the freshness, value and local provenance of the products.

Woodhead bread products at UGO Boothferry (11 Oct 2011)

As well as securing a successful wholesale business, the purchase of Tindale & Stanton – whose products are already sold in UGO shops – provides further interesting vertical integration opportunities for the 20-strong UGO supermarket chain as it seeks to lessen its reliance on Nisa-sourced products.