1868
The Baxter Story begins with a little encouragement,…read moreGeorge Baxter borrowed £100 from an uncle and other relatives, and opened a small grocery shop in Fochabers.
Moray offers a superb natural larder and Fochabers itself stands in the Laich of Moray, a sandy coastal plain, ideal for growing carrots, turnips, leeks and potatoes. In the nearby hills and glens, delicious raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants are grown. Beyond are the deer forests and grouse moors. The surrounding lochs and woods are the habitat of wild duck, pheasants and partridges. Prime beef cattle graze the low-lying meadows, and through all this glorious landscape, the mighty salmon river, the Spey, winds its way to the Moray Firth, famed in turn for lobsters, crabs, scallops and prawns.
George's wife, Margaret, started making jams and jellies in the back of their village shop. Once her jams had found their way to Gordon Castle, their fine quality ensured that they swiftly became popular with the Duke of Gordon's friends up and down the land. Thus the Baxter reputation began to spread.
When he started the business, George Baxter's desire was to be different, be better, little guessing that these words would remain an inspiration to his great-grandchildren over 140 years later.
1914
George and Margaret's son, William, married Ethel in 1914. Shortly after, they bought a plot of land from the Duke of Gordon across the River Spey from Fochabers and built a small factory. While Ethel supervised the jam making in huge copper pans, William travelled all over Scodand by train and bicycle, passionately advocating the quality of his wife's delicious preserves. Each evening he dutifully wrote home with a list of orders he had taken that day.
Cleverly blending old ideas with new and drawing on the abundance of fine local produce, Ethel created an exceptional range of soups, among them die famous Royal Game Soup. She also pioneered the canning of soft fruits when the process was in its infancy. Ethel's talent as an innovator, combined with her husband's brilliance as a salesman, made Baxters a formidable forte and it wasn't long before orders came flooding in from fine establishments such as Harrods and Fortnum & Mason in London.
1946
At the end of the war, die next generation of the Baxter family, Gordon and Ian, came to join the family firm. They found themselves in a business which had scraped through the bleck years of 1939 to 1945 making a little jam for die NAAFI and not much else. Gordon and Ian, facing shortages of glass, sugar, paper etc, decided on one major factor in forging ahead with the rebuilding of the business to go for quality every time
1952
Gordon met and married Ena Robertson. He gained not only a wife, but the other half of what was to develop into a quite exceptional business partnership.
1959
Laden down with samples of jam and marmalade, Gordon and Ena set off for the United States of America, the great laboratory of world retailing
Over the next 20 years, Ena's cookery demonstrations were seen by millions of American TV viewers and together they hosted mammoth Scottish charity banquets, complete with pipers and singers and, not least, a full Baxters menu. Ena and her development team were also busy with new varieties of soup, beetroot, new flavours of jam and marmalade as well as chutneys and sauces. The Baxter portfoilio was being expanded all the time.
The 1980's saw the business expand further. Baxters traditional soups were already well-established as the leading premium brand in the UK. During this time consumer tastes were changing rapidly, with a growing demand for different, more exotic flavours.
Generation IV of the family took over the rein in the 1990's and, as with previous generations, innovation and quality are key. The business continues to thrive and grow, responding quickly to the needs and demands of the consuming public.
Today
Audrey Baxter and her management team run a company of which her great-grandparents could never even have dreamed. The sheer scale of the operation, based in sites throughout the UK, and food manufacturing operations in Poland, Canada and Australia, and the science and technology that underlies it may be far removed from the little village shop in Fochabers but the ethos remains the same
Be Different Be Better
