Cooplands

Cooplands (formerly Ainsleys) in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire

Cooplands (Coopland & Son (Scarborough) Ltd) is a bakery chain with over 100 outlets located across Yorkshire, Durham and Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom.

By 2011, it had expanded to become the third largest bakery chain in the UK.^[1] In 2011 the company's annual turnover was £23 million.^[2]

Cooplands produces takeaway food chiefly for the lunch-time trade, specialising in sandwiches, pasties, deserts, cakes, and bread, and competes with other local café and takeaway outlets, and national and international high street food chains and franchises.

History

Cooplands was founded as a single shop in Scarborough North Yorkshire in 1885,^[3] and was incorporated in 1949.^[2]

In 1999, the company opened 10 new stores, and expanded production at its Scarborough-based bakery with the creation of 80 new jobs.^{[citation needed]} A further expansion was announced in June 2007 when it acquired the Hull-based bakery, Skeltons. The purchase added 34 outlets to the Cooplands chain.^[4]

In April 2011, Woodhead Bakery, a rival Scarborough-based chain, fell into administration. Of the 29 Woodhead outlets, Cooplands bought 18, the rest purchased by the Haldane Retail Group.^[5]

In 2005, Cooplands was noted as being an "established NVQ training centre", and receiving a National Training Award for staff training. The same year it held a Careers in the Bakery Industry event, advising career advisors of employment opportunities within the bakery industry.^[3]

Cooplands Doncaster

The Doncaster-based Cooplands chain is part of the same family, with a similar business model to the Scarborough chain, but operates independently.^[6] Coopland (Doncaster) Ltd. has outlets across South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, North Nottinghamshire and parts of Lincolnshire. It is a Private Limited Company, incorporated in 1933, with a 2011 turnover of £18.6 million.^[7]

References