6 food and drink businesses that originated in North Yorkshire

The list includes a range of businesses from a bakery to ice cream maker and demonstrate the rich history of food production in the North Yorkshire County.

Yorkshire has a strong history of cuisine such as Yorkshire pudding, Yorkshire curd tart and York city has played a prominent role in the confectionary industry with chocolate factories such as Rowntree’s, Terry’s and Thorntons.

READ MORE: Top 6 walking trails in North Yorkshire according to TripAdvisor

However, some of Yorkshire’s cuisine owes itself to the food production efforts in North Yorkshire.

Here are seven food businesses originating from North Yorkshire:

Froneri (Leeming Bar):

Froneri is a global ice cream manufacturer with its headquarters based in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire.

The company is the largest producer of ice cream in Europe by volume and is the second largest in the world.

Established in 2016 as a joint venture between Nestle and PAI Partners, the company originated as R&R Ice cream in 2013 which was founded as Richmond Ice Cream in 1985 when Bedale farmer Jonathan Ropner acquired Cardosi, a Thornaby ice cream manufacturer.

Jonathan asked a friend, James Lambert to run the company, but according to Lambert, the pair knew nothing about ice cream manufacturing.

After a contract between Richmond Ice Cream and Morrisons, the company had its first major success when it was asked to make own-label ice cream for the supermarket chain. Morrisons had 44 stores at the time.

After several reverse take overs, take overs and acquiring licences for producing Cadbury, Del Monte and Britvic, the company was acquired by a French private equity firm in April 2013, which saw James Lambert moved from Chief Executive to chairman.

In just 2019, Froneri announced that it will into the North American market after acquisition of Nestle USA’s ice cream division which included brands such as Dreyer’s, Haagen-Dazs and Drumstick.

So next time you’re enjoying a Haagen-Dazs or Cadbury ice cream, remember that it originated from a farmer in Bedale.

Wensleydale Creamery (Hawes):

Making a variety of cheeses, most notably Yorkshire Wensleydale, this company is based in Hawes North Yorkshire and is a popular tourist attraction.

The company was established in 1897 by Edward Chapman as a commercial creamery using traditional techniques and milk bought from local farms.

The creamery was taken over in 1930s by Kit Calvert who sold it to the Milk Marketing Board in 1966.

The Hawes creamery closed in 1992 with a loss of 59 jobs, however sixth months later a management buyout by John Gibson saw cheese making return to Wensleydale.

In the financial year ending March 2017, the company sold 4,664 tonnes of cheese. As a tourist destination, the creamery can be visited by up to 300,000 people each year.

In 2019 the creamery announced that cheese waste produced in the making of the cheese would be used to heat 4,000 Yorkshire homes with renewable “green gas”.

Now you know that, it might be worth a trip down to the creamery one weekend this summer.

Cooplands (Scarborough):

Cooplands was founded in Scarborough as a single shop in 1885 and by 1949 became incorporated.

In 1999 the company opened ten new stores and expanded production at the Scarborough-based bakery, adding 80 new jobs.

After purchasing a rival bakery in Scarborough that had fallen into administration, Cooplands received an £8.5 million investment in 2017 to increase the rollout of its shops in the North of England.

It is now the third largest chain in the UK with over 160 outlets.

That’s some info you can sink your teeth into when you next pop down for a sausage roll.

Yorkshire Tea (Harrogate):

It would be a crime to fail to mention this famous tea brand when talking about food produce in North Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Tea was created by Charles Edward Taylor and his brother in 1886 when they created CE Taylor and Co., which was shortened to Taylor’s.

They opened tea kiosks in Harrogate and Ilkley until local tea competitor Betty’s took over Taylor’s in 1962 and renamed it Taylors of Harrogate and formed the Betty’s and Taylor Group.

Yorkshire Tea was then launched as a brand in 1977, it was originally conceived as “Yorkshire Tea for Yorkshire people, and Yorkshire water-types.”

During the early days of the tea brand, different blends of tea were created for different regions in Yorkshire based on the hardness or softness of the water, but over time it evolved into one blend.

The famous brew-making company was given a Royal Warrant by the Prince of Wales in 2009 and has also sponsored ITV1’s Yorkshire-based Heartbeat from 1998 to 2001.

Masons Gin (Aiskew)

Probably the newest business on this list, Masons Gin was created by Karl and Cathy Mason in 2012 and launched their first a year later on World Gin Day in 2013.

The business was originally located in Bedale Hall but was moved to a site in Aiskew and has since won many awards and accolades despite being so new.

Sadly, after a gin still exploded and caused a fire in 2019, the distillery was forced to close. Luckily no one was injured, however, extensive damage meant that the site had to be relocated to Leeming Bar and was reopened in 2020.

Betty and Taylors of Harrogate:

Already mentioned further up on this list, this famous company based and founded in Harrogate are famous for their tea and traditional tea rooms called Betty’s Café Tea Rooms.

The first Betty’s tea room was opened in Cambridge Crescent in Harrogate by Fredrick Belmont, a swiss confectioner in 1919.

Strangely enough, the origin of the Betty’s name is unknown with four possibilities: Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, mother of Queen Elizabeth, Betty Lupton, former manager  of Harrogate Spa, the daughter of a previous occupant of the Harrogate premises who died of tuberculosis. Or a small child who interrupted a meeting in which the choice of name as being discussed.

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