Brown Brothers
The Brown family opened a small butcher shop in Biggar, Scottish Borders. Starting off by distributing their products by horse and cart throughout Lanarkshire and the surrounding areas, the business flourished and two further traditional ‘factory units were opened to satisfy regional demand.
1885Godfrey family
The Godfrey family bought the Brown family’s small business, and with six members of staff continue to uphold the values, tradition and quality of product held by the Brown family.
1985Brown Brothers Kirkconnel
In 1993 the business moved to a new state-of-the-art factory in Dumfriesshire, becoming Brown Brothers Manufacturing Ltd. The new site paved the way for both frozen and chilled products to be manufactured and distributed, enabling the product range to be extended whilst providing continued opportunity for growth.
1993FoodPro
The first expansion after the move, the purchase of ready-meal brand FoodPro was a new opportunity for Browns Food Group to offer customers a new product and move into a new area of expertise.
1997Fenton Barns
Purchase of meat and poultry business Fenton Barns – based in East Lothian, Scotland – was a further expansion into new products and areas of service for our customers.
1999Lions Speciality
Brown’s acquired Lions Speciality Foods, a major manufacturer of chilled and frozen salmon and seafood products.
2001Locharbriggs coldstore
Purchase of Locharbriggs cold storage facility in Dumfries, Scotland. The facility allowed further expansion of the business, and development of further storage, transport and logistical services Brown’s offers to its customers.
2004Foodpro
Acquisition of major poultry sales operation Mostell allowed a further expansion in products offered by the group. FoodPro also moved to a new, larger state-of-the-art site, increasing output and efficiency substantially.
2007Mostell Logistics
Expansion into Mostell Logistics increased the logistical services offered by the group by creating an in-house transport branch to service our customers efficiently and cost effectively. Browns Food Group also purchased Belchers of Ayrshire – one of Europe’s largest retail frozen producers – which allowed for further production and development of product range, as well as additional manufacturing site and greater output.
2008Belcher Foods
Purchase of Belcher Foods, one of Europe’s largest retail frozen producers.
2008Mostell Seafood
The purchase of Mostell Seafood facilitated expansion into greater range of high quality seafood products, as well as bringing renowned seafood brand Ocean Catch to the group.
2010Tilbury Transport / Coldstore
10,000 pallet frozen distribution centre import London Distribution. The same year saw the opening of our large-scale frozen distribution centre, Tilbury Coldstore, expanding our logistic, transport and storage capabilities in-group.
2011Scottish Gourmet
Purchase of Scottish Gourmet allowed the group to move into a new sector – home delivered, restaurant style meals. The same year Lions Speciality Foods’ re-launched premium brand Tarbert Fine with new range of products, including high quality salmon range.
2012Hall's Production
Purchase of major chilled and frozen goods brand Hall’s of Scotland, including production site, and van sales bringing an established brand to the group, greatly expanded product range and production capacity. Retail service Hall’s Direct was also implemented. The introduction of in-group import/export operation Importo, greatly expanded the group’s logistical services in-house, whilst offering logistical import/export services to other businesses.
2013150,000 sq ft cooked meat factory
Completion of 150,000 sq ft cooked meat factory for high capacity output and increased efficiency. Purchase and absorption of bacon specialist D & R Stevenson.
2014