Thorntons is a British chocolate company established by Joseph William
Thornton in 1911. Thorntons today is a £180m turnover company with nearly 400 shops and
cafes and around 200 franchises together with internet, mail
order and commercial services.
Notable Products
Continental and Special Toffee account for almost £80 million of Thornton's sales and are
often cited as two of the favourites among the Thornton product line.
History
Thorntons was founded in 1911 by Joseph Thornton who set up his own confectionery shop in Sheffield, and has since grown to become the UK’s largest manufacturer and retailer of specialist chocolates.
They have established unique selling points in their recognised brand and high street presence and are known for their premium
quality chocolates with both quality ingredients and exclusive recipes.
Thorntons has kept its base within the UK, while previous attempts to enter the US,
Belgium and French markets proved disappointing. The company was
floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1988. The
Thornton family have continued to play an active role in the business, and it was only in 1996 that
a non-Thornton CEO (Roger Paffard) was appointed.
The 2003 results show turnover increasing to £167.1m, but operating profit decreasing to £9.4m.
There is a significant impact of seasonality on the sales demand and a number of strategies have been undertaken to attempt to
address this issue – however, 35% of sales are still in the seven-week period before Christmas and a further 10% before Easter.
The impact of this on both manufacturing and service are significant, with temporary staff covering positions.
The current CEO (Peter Burdon) proposed a management buy out in February 2004 but this was not successful. Two months later,
John Thornton announced his retirement from chairmanship in April 2004.
On 3 April 2007, Thorntons set up what is thought to be the
world's first edible billboard. The 14.5ft by 9.5ft (4.4m by 2.9m) and 390kg
(860lb) sign was erected outside their Covent Garden, London store, and was devoured by eager passers-by within 3 hours [1]. The structure included 10
chocolate bunnies, 72 giant chocolate eggs and 128 chocolate panels, each weighing 2kg. The publicity stunt was decided following
poor Christmas 2006 sales.
External links
References
1. The Strategy Report of Thorntons plc, Birmingham Business School, 2007
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
