Company History
1981
Founded as Independent Vending Supplies (IVS) by Ian and Gary Unsworth. Initially supplying coffee, tea, drinking chocolate and soups to the vending industry.
1984
Company expands premises and invests in its first ‘wet’ manufacturing line, to produce cordials and syrups, leads to fast growth in the foodservice sector
1986
Having been approached by J N Nichols (Vimto) plc, IVS was sold in January 1986 with Gary and Ian continuing to run the business and turnover reaches £3 million.
1989
The company name is changed to Nichols Foods, the business was accredited BS5750 (ISO9001:2000).
1993
The business enters the packaged soft drinks market, with an ambitious programme of placing innovative can vendors sourced from the USA.
1994
Business is booming and necessitates a further re-location, this time to Haydock, to the site of the current business. An investment of over £2 million creates a site of 70,000 square feet and a state of the art powder mixing system – the first of its kind in the industry. The site was officially opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in February 1995.
2001
Exclusive agreement is reached with Masterfoods to manufacture and distribute Beverage products including Galaxy Hot Chocolate and Milky Way.
2002
Nichols Foods negotiates an exclusive supply agreement with World coffee leaders, Douwe Egberts, for vending and was featured as a ‘best practice’ business for external visits by Inside UK Enterprise.
2004
Galaxy instant hot chocolate is voted ‘best hot beverage’ at the prestigious Catering Excellence Awards. This was tremendous recognition for the total Nichols Food team who had created the recipe, manufactured and successfully marketed the product across foodservice, vending and retail. In November, an MBO of the Nichols Foods and Stockpack businesses, transfers ownership back to the Unsworth family.
2005
The business changes its name to Aimia Foods and a major re-investment programme combined with efficiency savings is undertaken together with improvements in manufacturing facilities. A wide range of new initiatives and product introductions are made.
A long term licensing arrangement with Masteroods extends Aimia’s relationship into the future.
Major investment takes place with a state of the art Warehouse Management System implemented at Aimia’s new 5000 pallet capacity warehouse, two minutes from the Penny Lane site, adjacent to its haulier partner, Rhys Davis.
2006
The business is undertaking many initiatives in hot and cold drinks supporting its claim to be ‘the Independent specialist in hot and cold drinks’.
Aimia is voted one of Britains top employers to work for. Twenty-five years in business is celebrated!
2007
The company celebrates success with the largest full outsourcing contract win in its history. To manage the production of food products, for a major blue chip client - for supply across the UK and Europe.