Hovis
 |
|
| Limited company | |
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | Macclesfield, Cheshire, United Kingdom (1886) |
| Headquarters | High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire |
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Key people
|
Nish Kankiwala, Chairman |
| Products | Bread, flour |
| Owner |
The Gores Group (51%) Premier Foods (49%) |
| Website | www |
Hovis Ltd is a British company that produces flour and bread. The brand originated in Macclesfield, Cheshire, in 1886, and became part of Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) in 1962 after a succession of mergers. RHM, with its brands including Hovis and Mother's Pride, was acquired by Premier Foods in 2007.
Hovis became a limited company in April 2014, after Premier Foods sold a 51% stake in the business to The Gores Group to form a joint venture between the two companies.
Hovis specialises in high wheatgerm wholemeal flour, the bread being baked independently. It also produces the Nimble brand reduced-calorie bread.
The brand began in 1886; the Hovis process was patented on 6 October 1887 by Richard "Stoney" Smith (1836–1900), and S. Fitton & Sons Ltd developed the brand, milling the flour and selling it along with Hovis branded baking tins to other bakers. The name was coined in 1890 by London student Herbert Grime in a national competition set by S. Fitton & Sons Ltd to find a trading name for their patent flour which was rich in wheat germ. Grime won £25 when he coined the word from the Latin phrase hominis vis – "the strength of man". The company became the Hovis Bread Flour Company Limited in 1898.
When the abundance of certain B vitamins in wheatgerm was reported in 1924, Hovis increased in popularity.
In 1915, when the London and South Western Railway inaugurated their first electric train services, they introduced alphabetical head-codes in lieu of the traditional discs used on steam locomotives so that the general public could more easily identify their train. A 1926 advertisement widely deployed on the railways showed five such trains carrying headcodes H ō V I S along with an explanation (H-Hampton Court, ō-Hounslow, V-Kingston (Thames Valley), I-Dorking North & Effingham and S-Shepperton). The fact that the "clockwise" Hounslow Loop head-code was a slightly height-reduced 'O' topped by a bar explains the unique rendering of the brand as HōVIS - a rendering that significantly outlasted the advertising campaign.
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Wikipedia