George Weston Limited
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| Public company | |
| Traded as |
Common: : WN Preferred: : WN.PR.A : WN.PR.B : WN.PR.C : WN.PR.D : WN.PR.E Indices: S&P/TSX 60 component |
| Industry | Food processing, Food distribution |
| Founded | Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1882) |
| Founder | George Weston |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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Area served
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Canada and the United States |
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Key people
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Galen Weston Jr. (Executive Chairman and CEO) |
| Revenue | $32.742 billion CAN (2012) |
| Profit | $486 million CAN (2012) |
| Owner | Weston family (63%) |
|
Number of employees
|
140,800 (2012) |
| Subsidiaries | www.westonfoods.ca |
| Website | www.weston.ca |
George Weston Limited, often referred to as Weston or Weston's, is a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Founded by George Weston in 1882, the company today consists of Weston Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary, and Loblaw Companies Limited, the country's largest supermarket retailer, in which it maintains controlling interest. Retail brands include President's Choice, No Name, and Joe Fresh, in addition to bakery brands Wonder, Country Harvest, D'Italiano, WeightWatchers, Ready Bake, Moulin Rouge and Gadoua. The company is controlled by the Weston family, which owns a majority share in George Weston Limited.
In 1882, Toronto bread salesman George Weston, who got his start at the age of 12 as a baker’s apprentice, went into business for himself when he bought a bread route from his employer, G.H. Bowen. Two years later, Weston bought out Bowen’s Sullivan St. bakery and began baking and delivering his own bread. His first employee was Charles Upshall, another young baker, and the two worked long hours baking and delivering bread. Weston’s business prospered, particularly with the development of his "Real Home Made Bread," made from a combination of Manitoba No. 1 Hard Wheat and Ontario Fall wheat. His bakery underwent at least four expansions. At a time when many bakers were reluctant to adopt new technology, believing it adversely affected the taste and quality of their bread, Weston began introducing modern equipment to automate the baking process. "He has not spared expense getting in the latest designs of machinery to mix his dough," proclaimed one newspaper ad. Eventually, he renamed his bakery on Sullivan Street the "G. Weston’s Bread Factory."
In October 1897, George Weston unveiled his "Model Bakery", Canada's largest and most modern bread factory, at the corner of Soho and Phoebe streets in Toronto. Newspaper reports told of how Weston had travelled to other countries to inspect the latest in baking technology and that his new establishment represented the best of what he had seen. Not only was the factory hailed for its efficiency and cleanliness, but also its capacity to turn out thousands of loaves of bread:
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Wikipedia