Ripley Hampers

Ripley Hampers

Type	Privately held company
Founded	Ripley, North Yorkshire, England (1834)
Founder	Quintin Acomb
Headquarters	Ripley, North Yorkshire, England
Number of locations	1 (with online additional franchise shops)
Key people	David Thomson(Chairman)
Revenue	£1 million (2009)
Number of employees	20
Website	www.ripleyhampers.co.uk

Ripley Hampers founder Quintin Acomb first set up the British hamper company in 1834. The Ripley brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Ripley Group of companies, including Ripley Fine Foods Limited, Ripley Traditional Sweet Company, Ripley Ice Cream and Ripley Store.

Several of Ripley Group's companies are tourist attractions including the seasonal Christmas department and the Fine Food store, the world famous Ripley Ice Cream and these attract coach parties to the Ripley area.

Ripley Hampers is part of the Ripley Fine Foods Brand, which has been today is a growing business with Internet, mail order and commercial services.

History

Quintin Acomb ^[1] who died the 18th of November 1862 setup out the principals and ethos of Ripley Hampers when the Napoleonic wars were well and truly over and Britain’s trading empire was spreading out across the globe and trade was booming.

The Grocer by trade Quintin Acomb was following Fortnum & Mason's success who had already been trading for 125 years. The great shopping arcades of Bond Street were thriving and Harrods small shop in the east end of London would not be open for another 2 years.

The young Quintin Acomb was wanting to make his way in the world choosing Ripley in North Yorkshire, dominated by its historic castle, as the ideal location to establish his business. Quintin worked closely with the eccentric Sir William Amcotts Ingilby Ingilby ^[2] of Ripley Castle and the new store opened to much acclaim in 1832.

Quintin's vision to create a fine food emporium supplying the finest food from Yorkshire and around the world was realised. Quintin’s Ripley venture was an immediate success, patronised by the castle, local gentry and wider community. As the regency era gave way to Queen Victoria's reign, great societal and technological changes were taking place across the kingdom.

The tradition of giving food hampers at Christmas began in Victorian times. Food and drink would be brought together and placed in wicker baskets by wealthy families and then given to their staff as a gift for them and their families to enjoy over Christmas.

Historically the amount of food in a hamper would be limited to that which one person could carry but as the fast expanding railways opened up the country people found it easier to send hampers to friends and relatives based in the large industrial cities.

It wasn’t long until the enterprising Quintin Acomb caught on to the idea of packaging his Ripley Fine foods and drink in wicker hampers that could be sent by his customers as gifts to loved ones around the UK. He had been inspired after he had travelled to a London department store which had already begun to distribute hampers using the railway network. The idea of giving gift hampers took off and became a British institution. People were now able to send hampers as a special gift to loved ones and clients all over the country.

Nine generations later, the business continues to build on Quintin’s legacy of excellence. Ripley Hampers contains luxury items such as Stilton cheese, champagne, smoked salmon remain popular today, especially at Christmas time.

Ripley Group

Ripley Hampers is a trading arm of the award winning Ripley Fine Foods which also encompasses Ripley Store, Ripley Traditional Sweet Co, Ripley Flowers, Ripley Fine Gifts, Ripley Chocolates, Ripley Gift Experiences and the World Famous Ripley Ice Cream.

References