Britvic
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Britvic - the taste of success
Britvic, one of the two leading branded soft drinks businesses in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, sells 1.6bn litres of drinks annually, with group revenue of £978.8m for the financial year 2008-9. The company has a portfolio of leading brands such as Robinsons, Tango, J2O and Fruit Shoot as well as Pepsi, 7Up, Gatorade, Lipton Iced Tea and V Water, which Britvic produces, markets, sells and distributes under exclusive appointments from PepsiCo.
“We market these brands to all the major retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Asda, as well as being the number one supplier to the licensed trade – pubs, clubs and restaurants,” says Susan Turner, Head of Corporate Affairs. “ We also sell to smaller convenience stores, leisure centres and parks as well as a range of waters and juices permitted into schools.”
Britvic has a long proud association with Essex. The British Vitamin Products Company - from which Britvic takes its abbreviated name - was founded in the mid-nineteenth century in Chelmsford as a home business run from a chemist’s shop. The Britvic range of juices were first produced in 1938 when the company found a way to bottle fruit juices so that they stayed fresh for longer without the addition of preservatives. Today, soft drinks are one of the biggest sectors of the grocery market and could soon overtake spirits in the pub trade. Britvic continues to lead the growth of this market. Susan Turner comments,
““Essex is part of the company’s history and it is also important to our future. As well as a factory and head office at Chelmsford, we base our research laboratories here, developing the next generation of innovative products.”
Britvic has around 2700 employees at factories and distribution depots around the UK, with some 500 people based in Chelmsford. Susan Turner says,
“We employ a diverse workforce of highly qualified technical, business and production people. Essex provides us with high quality local employees, but equally, as we adopt more flexible working practices, we can also attract high quality people from further afield. In fact, we have a number of employees who commute in from London, who find it easy to get to Chelmsford by rail and avoid the rush hour.”
Essex is also proving an important base as the company expands into international markets, as Susan Turner explains,
““We have established operations in Ireland. Britvic International now looks further afield to territories such as the Netherlands, Scandinavia, France and USA. Having London Stansted Airport close by makes it easy for Britvic employees to travel anywhere in Europe. We can also make return trips to our Irish offices on the same day.”
Britvic has a long proud association with Essex and this looks set to continue as the company maintains its growth in the UK and abroad.
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