Carr's
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Carr's is a British biscuit and cracker manufacturer, currently owned by Pladis Global through its subsidiary United Biscuits. The company was founded in 1831 by Jonathan Dodgson Carr and is marketed in the United States by Kellogg's.
HistoryEdit
In 1831, Carr formed a small bakery and biscuit factory in the English city of Carlisle in Cumberland; he received a royal warrant in 1841.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Within 15 years of being founded, it had become Britain's largest baking business.<ref name=cm>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Carr's business was both a mill and a bakery, an early example of vertical integration, and produced bread by night and biscuits by day.<ref name=ind>Template:Cite news</ref> The biscuits were loosely based on dry biscuits used on long voyages by sailors.<ref name=ind/> They could be kept crisp and fresh in tins, and despite their fragility could easily be transported to other parts of the country by canal and railway.<ref name=ind/>
Jonathan Carr protested against the Corn Laws, which placed steep tariffs on imported wheat to keep the price of British wheat artificially high. This meant bread was expensive even in times of famine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Carr died in 1884, but by 1885, the company was making 128 varieties of biscuit and employing 1000 workers.<ref name=grac>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1894, the company was registered as Carr and Co. Ltd., but reverted to being a private company in 1908. Carrs Flour Mills Limited was incorporated after acquiring the flour-milling assets.<ref name=grac/><ref name=cm/> Jonathan's four sons were less skilled at managing the business, but biscuit production remained in the family. It became part of Cavenham Foods in 1964 until 1972, when it was sold to United Biscuits group, along with Cavenham's other biscuit brands Wright's Biscuits and Kemps for $10Template:Spacesmillion.<ref name=ind/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> United Biscuits was sold by its private equity owners to the Turkish-based multinational Yıldız Holding in 2014; in 2016, all UB brands including Carr's were combined with Yıldız's other snack brands to form pladis.
Among members of the Carr family who worked for the business was former Commando Capt. Richard Carr MBE. He was decorated for repeated escape attempts from Italian and German prisoner-of-war camps in the Second World War.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
BusinessEdit
Since 1972, the Carr's biscuit factory has been part of United Biscuits, and the Carr's branded products are marketed in the US by Kellogg's. The factory today is known officially as McVitie's, but still known locally as Carr's.
Carr's Flour Mills and the later established agricultural supplies and feeds businesses became Carr's Milling Industries plc, which is still based in Carlisle and now known as Carr's Group PLC. Its products have since the 1990s appeared in UK supermarkets through the Carr's Breadmaker flour range. Carr's Group also own companies involved in light engineering.<ref name=cm/> In 2016, Carr's Group sold the flour-milling division to Whitworths Holdings Ltd.
In March 2012, it was announced that Carr's Table Water Biscuits had lost its royal warrant due to 'changing tastes' in the Royal Households.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Carr's promptly licensed the coat of arms of the City of Carlisle to replace the coat of royal arms on their packaging.
FloodingEdit
In 2005, the Caldewgate factory in Carlisle lost two months' production due to flooding. Production resumed after a £1 million government grant.<ref name="Independent 22 Jan 2016"/>
The Caldewgate factory was flooded again on 6 December 2015, with levels exceeding five feet (over 150Template:Spacescm). The floodwater damaged the brick ovens and resulted in product shortages on retail shelves.<ref name="Independent 22 Jan 2016">Carr's water biscuit shortage looms after factory hit by UK floods, The Independent, 22 January 2016</ref><ref name="Guardian 212 Jan 2016">The Guardian, 21 Jan 2016, Too wet for water biscuits as Carr's pauses production.</ref> After closure of the works for a month to repair and clear flood damage, production and distribution gradually resumed in spring 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:United Biscuits Template:Yıldız Holding Template:Kellanova