Robert Wiseman Dairies
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Robert Wiseman Dairies is a large Scottish milk supplier and ditributor. They are now one of the largest dairy businesses in Great Britain. The company was founded in 1947 using a horse and cart for doorstep deliveries. Although still based in Scotland, sales in England now account for more than 66% of the Company’s sales.
Founded originally by Robert Wiseman Snr, 1967 saw the current Chairman, Alan Wiseman, join the business straight from school, followed some eight years later by the Company’s current Managing Director, Robert Wiseman Junior. Robert Wiseman Senior handed control of the business to his sons in 1976 and they gradually built the business up through a series of acquisitions in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1988 the company built a new purpose built dairy in Motherwell. This dairy was designed for supermarket supplies and quickly gained contracts from some of the larger retailers. Having achieved success within Scotland, the Directors were determined to continue expanding the business and saw an opportunity to repeat what had been achieved in Scotland by establishing a production base in the North of England. In March 1994 the Company was floated on the London Stock Exchange. The money raised from the floatation allowed the construction of a new Manchester dairy. The Manchester Dairy opened in September 1995 and was operating to capacity within four years. A site was then identified at Droitwich Spa, south west of Birmingham, and a dairy opened there in April 2001. This new dairy has a capacity of 500 million litres per annum and is believed to be the largest fresh liquid milk dairy in the world.
In the late 1990’s further growth in turnover was primarily achieved with further acquisitions in Scotland, including the Co-op liquid milk business, Hamilton Dairies and the liquid milk business from Scottish Pride (including the popular Fresh 'n' lo brand).
The Company now has five major dairies in Great Britain. These are in Aberdeen, East Kilbride, Glasgow, Manchester and Droitwich Spa. The company also has thirteen distribution depots throughout the UK.
Doorstep deliveries continue to decline resulting in an increase in sales in supermarkets. More than 70% of sales are now to multiple retailers.
