In 1934 Mars Confections acquired the whole of the share capital of Chappel Brothers Ltd, a small company in Manchester which canned meat offcuts for sale as pet food under the brand name 'Chappie'.
Manufacture was transferred to Slough, and between 1935 and 1939 the annual turnover of Chappel Brothers was increased from £19,000 to nearly £100,000.
The name of the company was changed to Chappie Ltd in 1939.
Further progress was interrupted by the war, and thereafter until the 1950s the company was hampered by shortages of raw materials and cans. By 1951, however, annual sales had reached £1 million, and in view of the limited room for expansion at Slough the company moved to Melton Mowbray.
To meet the continued increase in demand, and to make better use of assets, the company went over to shift working, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, in 1953, and subsequently introduced a continuous sterilisation process in place of batch processing.
In 1957, as the company by then was marketing a range of products in addition to the original 'Chappie', the name was changed to Petfoods Ltd, and in 1972 it was again changed to Pedigree Petfoods
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Competition Commission