| 2006 |
Brakes named Best Delivered Wholesaler at Scottish Wholesale Association's Achiever Awards . |
| 2005 |
Brakes becomes partner in Nectar For Business a loyalty card for businesses
Brakes wins Best Wholesaler 2005 at Grocer Gold Awards. |
| 2004 |
Brakes opens its Food Innovation Centre in London Covent Garden - a first in foodservice the FIC is a place where Brakes presents its food and works on menu development to customers and is used for industry events.
Brakes launches Prime Meats its specialist meat division offering complete transparency and traceability for the caterer.
Brakes acquire Peters Foodservice Chilled Business Division and integrates it into the Brakes network.
Brakes acquires Wild Harvest specialist supplier to fine dining establishments. |
| 2002 |
Major rebranding took place. To project a strong, cohesive force within the food service industry, the business became known as Brakes.
The company's major shareholders (the Brake family) decided to sell their shareholding and the business was subsequently sold to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, an American investment company.
Purchase of Pauleys, fresh fruit and vegetable supplier. |
| 2001 |
Major acquisitions in France, including buying group, Carigel. |
| 1999 |
Purchase of Cearns & Brown (an ambient supplier subsequently merged
with Watson & Philip) and M&J Seafood (specialist seafood suppliers). |
| 1998 |
Acquisition of Watson & Philip Foodservice (ambient & chilled
grocery products). |
| 1995 |
Purchase of Puritan Maid (contract distribution). |
| 1992 |
The beginning of a prolonged period of growth and development. Acquisition
of Country Choice (bakery). Launch of Larderfresh (chilled). First French
company acquired. The purchase and consolidation of small French distributors
continued over the next few years. |
| 1991 |
The company was looking outside of its traditional frozen food market
with a view to further expansion. Accordingly, the name was changed once
again. Brake Bros Foodservice Ltd came into being on 12 March. |
| 1986 |
To ensure sufficient investment to allow for continued growth, the company
was floated on the stock exchange. |
| 1977 |
The name of the company was changed to Brake Bros (Frozen Foods) Ltd
on 1 July, to reflect the new direction. |
| 1974 |
Poultry processing ceased as the decision was taken to expand the frozen
food side of the business. |
| 1969 |
With frozen food becoming more popular, the next logical step was to
produce their own ready meals. The cooked food factory opened at Lenham
producing multi-portion meals, mainly aimed at the pub market, as well as
meat products such as burgers. |
| 1963 |
Believing the freezing of food to be the way forward, the brothers began
to distribute frozen foods alongside the main business of selling poultry. |
| 1961 |
Brake Bros (Poultry Packers) Ltd was incorporated on 30 October. The
business carried out poultry processing and packing, specialising in delivering
poultry to caterers in Kent and London. |
| 1958 |
Business established by William, Frank and Peter Brake supplying poultry
to caterers. The brothers all had catering training and, being sons of licensees,
had attended the LVS (Licensed Victuallers Society) School. |
