Thorntons Limited is a British

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

manufacturer owned by the Italian

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlappi ...

company, Ferrero. It was established in 1911 by Joseph William Thornton and his father in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

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, England. When

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

became part of the

Mondelez International Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding and beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26 billion and operates in ...

predecessor Kraft Foods, Thorntons had become the largest confectionery-only parent company in Britain. The company was purchased by the Italian firm Ferrero in June 2015 for £112. Until and during the Second World War, the company was an established

toffee Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepared, toffee ...

and

fudge Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline can ...

maker. With post war rationing ending, the group's primary focus shifted to

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and

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-style chocolate in sets.A minority of sales is in novelties, decoration and café outlet remittance
Full accounts made up to the 31st August 2018
Thorntons Ltd Annual Report 2018, Companies House. Retrieved 16 May 2020Clark, Andrew (7 May 2011)
"Thorntons: why the chocolate-maker has gone into meltdown"
''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

''. The Guardian (theguardian.com). Retrieved 11 July 2015.

History

The Thornton family

Thorntons began in Sheffield in 1911, the business being started by Joseph William Thornton (1870–1919), who co opened the company's first shop, at 159 Norfolk Street. Norman, his son, became the manager, at the age of just 15. Later in the company's history, Peter Thornton (grandson of the founder) served as chairman, but was dismissed from the role in June 1987.

2009–present – trading difficulties

After rapid expansion, the results of 2009 showed turnover increasing to £214.8 million, but operating profit decreasing to £7.94 million. A perennial seasonality in sales disappointed strategists and employees. 35% of the sales were in the seven week period before Christmas, and 10%, shortly before

Easter Sunday Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...

. The scale of impact of this, on manufacturing and service, are more pronounced than the average in the food sector, necessitating temporary staffing. Jonathon Hart joined the business, as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

, in January 2011. Following another resultant strategic review, in June 2011, Thorntons announced it would close between 120 and 180, of its shops. It was announced in June 2015, that chocolate producer Ferrero would buy Thorntons, for £112 million. Thorntons Ltd are 75% owned by Ferholding UK Ltd, which, in turn, is controlled by

Giovanni Ferrero Giovanni Ferrero (; born 21 September 1964) is an Italian businessman. He assumed the leadership of the confectionery company Ferrero SpA after the death of his brother Pietro Ferrero in 2011. As of October 2022, he has an estimated net worth o ...

(who holds over 50% of voting rights). With Ferrero investment into the business to try to increase revenue, through the financial year of 2017 to 2018 sales and production increased. Fewer new shops were opened with some existing locations diversified into cafés, selling a range of both eat-in and take-away food and drinks alongside the traditional confectionary lines. In 2020, Thorntons won the Lausanne Index Prize - Bronze Award. On 15 March 2021, it was announced that all 61 remaining Thorntons retail stores were to close after UK government

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

pandemic restrictions lifted. The pandemic restrictions had meant that all Thorntons retail stores had closed for much of 2020, and the business was now going to restructure in order to move sales both online and to focus retailing on

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

distribution channels. While announcing that the physical Thorntons stores would close, the company stated that it had seen a 70% increase in sales through the business

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compared to the previous year.

Publicity

The current, main advertising slogans are: Thorntonscat

*''Chocolate Heaven Since 1911'' *''It's The Thorntons That Counts'' Thorntons set up a very rare edible

billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

, on 3 April 2007, which exceeded four metres length; and – it was framed outside their shop in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

, London, and was eaten, within the space of just three hours. The structure included ten chocolate bunnies, seventy two giant chocolate eggs, and 128 chocolate panels, each weighing . The promotion sought to regain custom lost to competition and a move away from deluxe chocolate gifts, as well as poor sales over the summer of 2006.

Notes

References

;Citations *The Strategy Report of Thorntons plc, Birmingham Business School, 2007 *''Thorntons, My Life in the Family Business'' by Peter Thornton, Published by Tomahawk Press, October 2009 www.tomahawkpress.com

External links

* {{Ferrero Ferrero SpA 1911 establishments in England British brands British chocolate companies British companies established in 1911 Food and drink companies established in 1911 Companies based in Derbyshire Companies based in Sheffield Yorkshire cuisine