| 2010 |
Brakes Group acquires Browns Foodservice
Brakes Group acquires Swedish wholesaler Menigo Foodservice
Brakes Group acquires Freshfayre
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| 2009 |
Brakes launches La Boulangerie, a specialist bread and patisserie range
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| 2008 |
Brakes Group acquires O'Kane Foodservice
Brakes Group acquires Woodward Foodservice
Brakes Group acquires French foodservice wholesaler Rault
Brakes named Green Wholesaler of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards
Brakes attains ISO14001 accreditation, an internationally recognised standard for environmental performance |
| 2007 |
Brakes acquired by private equity group Bain Capital |
| 2006 |
Brakes named Best Delivered Wholesaler at Scottish Wholesale Association's Achiever Awards |
| 2005 |
Brakes becomes partner in Nectar For Business a loyalty card for businesses
Brakes wins Best Wholesaler 2005 at Grocer Gold Awards |
| 2004 |
Brakes opens its Food Innovation Centre in London Covent Garden - a first in foodservice the FIC is a place where Brakes presents its food and works on menu development to customers and is used for industry events.Brakes launches Prime Meats its specialist meat division offering complete transparency and traceability for the caterer.Brakes acquire Peters Foodservice Chilled Business Division and integrates it into the Brakes network.Brakes acquires Wild Harvest specialist supplier to fine dining establishments. |
| 2002 |
Major rebranding took place. To project a strong, cohesive force within the food service industry, the business became known as Brakes.The company's major shareholders (the Brake family) decided to sell their shareholding and the business was subsequently sold to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, an American investment company.Purchase of Pauleys, fresh fruit and vegetable supplier. |
| 2001 |
Major acquisitions in France, including buying group, Carigel. |
| 1999 |
Purchase of Cearns & Brown (an ambient supplier subsequently merged with Watson & Philip) and M&J Seafood (specialist seafood suppliers). |
| 1998 |
Acquisition of Watson & Philip Foodservice (ambient & chilled grocery products). |
| 1995 |
Purchase of Puritan Maid (contract distribution). |
| 1992 |
The beginning of a prolonged period of growth and development. Acquisition of Country Choice (bakery). Launch of Larderfresh (chilled). First French company acquired. The purchase and consolidation of small French distributors continued over the next few years. |
| 1991 |
The company was looking outside of its traditional frozen food market with a view to further expansion. Accordingly, the name was changed once again. Brake Bros Foodservice Ltd came into being on 12 March. |
| 1986 |
To ensure sufficient investment to allow for continued growth, the company was floated on the stock exchange. |
| 1977 |
The name of the company was changed to Brake Bros (Frozen Foods) Ltd on 1 July, to reflect the new direction. |
| 1974 |
Poultry processing ceased as the decision was taken to expand the frozen food side of the business. |
| 1969 |
With frozen food becoming more popular, the next logical step was to produce their own ready meals. The cooked food factory opened at Lenham producing multi-portion meals, mainly aimed at the pub market, as well as meat products such as burgers. |
| 1963 |
Believing the freezing of food to be the way forward, the brothers began to distribute frozen foods alongside the main business of selling poultry. |
| 1961 |
Brake Bros (Poultry Packers) Ltd was incorporated on 30 October. The business carried out poultry processing and packing, specialising in delivering poultry to caterers in Kent and London |
| 1958 |
Business established by William, Frank and Peter Brake supplying poultry to caterers. The brothers all had catering training and, being sons of licensees, had attended the LVS (Licensed Victuallers Society) School. |
