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Birds Derby Ltd is a bakery company which operates under the trading name Birds the Confectioners. The company is known to its customers simply by the name of Birds. Birds runs a total of 49 stores throughout the East Midlands, in central England. These stores are located in Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and Staffordshire. Birds is a family business which began in 1919.

A Family Business

Birds the Confectioners was founded by three brothers of the Bird Family; Frank, Thomas and Reginald Bird in 1919. The three brothers had returned from fighting in World War I. The company was then carried on by the sons of Thomas and Reginald Bird when their fathers died in the mid 1930's. Frank Bird died in 1951. The company is currently under the management of the third generation, Patrick R F Bird and Nicholas Bird.

The Shops

Birds currently operates 49 shops around the East Midlands. The latest shop to be added to the company was the Expresso in the Eagle Centre, Derby. Each shop is delivered fresh goods daily. All of Birds produce is manufactured at one bakery on Ascot Drive, Derby. Birds runs a strict "Made fresh daily" policy,with "We never sell a stale cake" printed on every cake box and bag. The company logo is a daisy. The shops, which are all within 40 miles of the bakery, are delivered to by a total of 21 Birds vans.

The Bakery

All of Birds produce, which includes pork pies, hams, beef paste, cream cakes, bread rolls, sandwiches, filled rolls, bake-off goods, celebration cakes, chocolate goods and more, are all made in the bakery on Ascot Drive. The bakery is open 24 hours, day and night, and employs a total of 150 workers in the bakery itself. Another 550 employees work in the shops, bringing the total workforce of Birds to 700 people.

Birds once owned a second bakery in Nottingham from 1975 to 1999. Birds took the Nottingham Bakery over from a family baking company called Croshaws, which operated 9 shops around Nottingham. However, Birds closed this bakery down in 1999 in order to centralise it's manufacturing to Ascot Drive.

Birds currently has an annual turnover of £17 million (around €25 million).

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County:  Derbyshire

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