Birds Eye
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Birds Eye is an international brand of frozen foods such as seafood, meat and vegetables.
Birds Eye is considered to be one of the founders of the modern frozen food industry and is credited with inventing a fast freezing process that preserves the quality of food. Founded by General Foods, which in 1929 bought the rights to use a fast-freezing process patented by Clarence Birdseye.
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[edit] History and Production
The brand and its underlying business is held by different owners in various territories:
- Europe - presently owned by Unilever, which announced in August 2006, sale of the business to private equity group Permira, expecting it to be completed by end-2006. Of its 3,500 employees, 1,800 are based in the UK. The company's staple product, the Fish Finger, was developed in its old factory in Great Yarmouth. Frozen vegetables were produced from 1946 using the new fast freezing process, which are now produced in Lowestoft employing 700 people. The location of the factory is essential to the "one-hour to frozen" promise on Birds Eye peas. There is also a fish products factory in Hull employing 600 people, which will be closed soon though. Birds Eye closed a factory in Grimsby in 2005, with the loss of 650 jobs, which had been making fish fingers since 1929
- United States - owned by Agrilink Foods, Inc., Rochester, New York. A wholly owned subsidiary of Pro-Fac Cooperative, which subsequently renamed itself to reflect its acquisition
[edit] Fish Fingers/Fish Sticks
Known in the United States as a "fish stick", where it has been suggested that in the 1920's they were invented in Massachusetts to help fisherman find larger markets for their increasingly large catches of cod. In Britain, the same but differently named product the Fish Finger, was developed in its old factory in Great Yarmouth
Although fish fingers have a modern advertising campaign aimed at children, two thirds of fish fingers are eaten by adults. The advent of the microwave method of cooking increased demand for frozen food. Bird's Eye Potato waffles are also popular and are widely known simply as "waffles" in the United Kingdom (quite different from the sweet waffles popular for breakfast in the United States)
[edit] Advertising (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, Captain Birdseye is the advertising mascot of the brand. Appearing in numerous television and billboard commercials since 1967, he has been played or modelled by various actors and is generally depicted as a clean living, older sailor with a white beard, dressed in naval uniform and with a seafaring accent. This character was so successful that when the company's brand was relaunched with a younger man with designer stubble the project floundered and the older description of the character was brought back into the promotions. In the UK television sitcom Only Fools and Horses, Derek Trotter (David Jason) once mockingly refers to Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield) as "Captain Birdseye", in reference to their similar appearances; actor Merryfield had in fact previously appeared as Captain Birdseye in commercials.
The Captain Birdseye mascot is a reference to the brand's extensive and well-known range of frozen seafood products. Because the Birds Eye brand is marketed to families, many of the advertising compaigns feature Captain Birdseye as having a "crew" composed mostly of children in the preteen to teenage age groups, encouraging brand loyalty from children and emphasising the convenience of serving the company's products to their parents. A 2005 advertising campaign in the UK features Captain Birdseye informing consumers that Birds Eye readymade meals contain no artificial flavourings or preservatives, with an emphasis that they are healthy to children
[edit] TV Adverts
Birds Eye are noted for their advertising, usually featuring Captain Birdseye in their adverts for Fish Fingers but also for other fondly remembered adverts in the United Kingdom, such as the one for Birds Eye Potato Waffles in the 1980s which had the Waffley versatile jingle.
- Not in my food (requires paid sign-in)
- Pea car (requires paid sign-in)
[edit] Unilever review, sale to Permira
After a tough trading period and a review of its business to focus on high growth/high margin markets, it was announced on 9 February 2006 that Unilever was looking to sell the Birds Eye brand, as well as the European version - Iglo (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Portugal). These brands were worth £836M in sales, with profits of £115M a year, and employ 3,500 staff across Europe with 1,800 located in the UK. Heinz and Findus have also cut down on their frozen food production.
Unilever will retain the Iglo brand in Italy, where frozen food is still popular. In the UK, Unilever has said that frozen food is less popular than chilled food products, and has concerns over health and E numbers (European Union codes for additives) after it sternly told TV viewers we don't play with your food
On 28 August 2006 it was confirmed that Unilever had agreed sale of the business to a private equity house Permira in a £1.2bn sale. After consultations with Unions and regulatory approval, the sale is expected to close by the end of 2006 [1]
