Ownership of bakery chain Cooplands has returned to Yorkshire after a new management team acquired the business back from Blackburn-headquartered EG Group.
Terms of the transaction were not been disclosed, although both companies published press releases on their respective websites yesterday (1 October) confirming that it had been completed.
Cooplands currently operates 154 bakery shops across the northeast – from Northumberland down through Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire – employing more than 1,400 staff members including at two production sites in Scarborough and Durham. Having started out in 1885 as a pork butcher and pie maker, its range now also features pasties, hand-finished sweet treats, and sandwiches.
EG Group purchased Cooplands in 2021, but failed to make good on its plans to open 30 new outlets per year and closed a third bakery in Hull in 2023, the same year it sold the majority of its UK and Ireland forecourt business to Asda.
In a statement on its website, Cooplands said the management buy-in has been led by its former chairman David Salkeld, who will reprise the role he served from 2018 to 2021, with support from fourth-generation family member Paul Coopland, who will also return to the board as a non-executive director.
John Ruddock is to continue as CEO at Cooplands, having recently been promoted from manufacturing and procurement director – he has worked for the firm for the past 24 years, starting in hygiene and progressing through various ranks of management. His executive team is completed by two new recruits, John Kitson as CFO and Steph McGinty as HR & transformation director.
“It is with genuine pride that we announce today’s purchase, which brings Cooplands back under the management of a locally based team with strong and established knowledge of our organisation, our colleagues, suppliers and customers,” commented Ruddock.
“This gives us the opportunity to focus on strategic growth for the future, whilst preserving the traditional values and excellence for which the brand has been known and respected for over 140 years.”
EG Group said the sale represents another positive step in its ongoing strategy to focus on its core markets in the US and Europe, as it developed a platform for further growth through its world-class grocery and merchandise, foodservice, and fuel retail proposition. The operator previously launched American sweet treat brand Cinnabon in the UK via a franchise deal in 2020, later transferred to independent company EG On The Move which closed down all of the remaining 12 branches three weeks ago.
Earlier this year, Cooplands was named a finalist in the Craft Bakery Business of the Year category, the winner of which will be unveiled at the Baking Industry Awards 2025 in London later this month. Judges praised the company’s use of seasonal NPD – headed up by Rising Star Award finalist Emily Anderson – and loyalty programmes to keep customers engaged.
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