History

The History of Beech's Fine Chocolates

The Chairman, Andrew Whiting has a long history as a consultant to the confectionery industry and the Managing Director, Robert White, also with direct experience in the confectionery sector, bought the Beech’s business in 2004 and set about making some immediate changes.

One of the first changes was to move to decree that only natural colour and flavourings should be used throughout the product range. Today, all Beech’s products still use the finest milk and dark chocolate but now contain only natural colours and flavours, in keeping with the original recipes that have been perfected over the last 91 years !

Whilst a large number of other competitors are relocating their operations to Eastern Europe, the Directors at Beech’s are firmly committed to keeping the business here in the UK, in Preston where it started all those years ago.

Several members of our workforce have been at Beech’s for over 30 years and every year in the build up to the busy Christmas period, even the staff who make up the additional workforce are often the same staff from one year to the next. This ensures the consistently high quality of all our products.

Here is the story of how Beech’s was founded back in the early part of the last century.

Beech's Fine Chocolates was founded in 1920 by Edward Collinson. He chose Preston because it was a busy port with good road links for distribution to the rest of the country. His family already operated a chain of successful tea and grocery shops and his venture into chocolate making appeared to him to be a logical progression. Very soon, Collinson discovered that Preston women possessed a natural ability for confectionery and chocolate making and slowly, but steadily, the firm's reputation for quality grew. At first, the chocolate products were sold at fairgrounds but by the end of the Second World War, Collinson had successfully penetrated the top end of the luxury market.

The company remained in Collinson family hands until it was sold in 1966 to a family of Yorkshire wool merchants. It was during this part of its history that Beech's Fine Chocolates became a supplier to the Supercook brand which subsequently acquired the company in 1984.

In 2000, Beech's Fine Chocolates was acquired by the Renshaw Scott Group, renowned for high quality products in the catering and home baking sectors. However, the product range and distribution network of the new owners had little in common with the ideal distribution pattern for Beech's chocolates. In late 2002, Renshaw Scott accepted an approach from a management buy in team who took the company into private hands once again. With this renewed independence came increased flexibility, enabling the Beech's brand to deliver high quality confectionery products to both the multiple retail groups and to the independent trader. In the first year of new ownership, Beech's products were bought by 40% of the top 15 British retail names and distribution to independents grew by around 5 new outlets every week.