The company began as a wholesale grocery and confectionery business set up by Walter Richard Fox in a Victorian warehouse in Leicester. By 1897 he was manufacturing over 100 Fox confectionery lines. Today the Fox's Glacier range, Paynes Poppets, Just Brazils and XXX Mints are all produced from one site in Braunstone, Leicester which has been here since 1967.
In 2001 the site at Leicester, along with the Fox's Glacier brand and XXX brand were purchased by Northern Foods. Northern Foods then introduced Paynes Poppets and Just Brazils brands to the factory - two confectionery brands they had acquired when they bought Paynes confectionery business in 1998.
Fox's Confectionery invested £3 million in state of the art technology to produce both the Just Brazils and Poppets brands at Leicester. The next chapter in Fox's Confectionery history was written when Big Bear Ltd acquired the company from Northern Foods in September 2003. Paul Wilkinson, John Jackson, and Mario Giannotta led the management buy-in and a new era launched for Fox’s Confectionery.
The latest acquisition for the Big Bear group sees the addition of two new brands to the portfolio namely Sugar Puffs and Harvest Cereal Bars both of which were purchased from Pepsico in September 2006. For more information please visit www.hmfoods.co.uk and www.bigbearltd.co.uk
