company see george weston foods . george weston limited type public company traded as common tsx wn preferred tsx wn.pr.a tsx wn.pr.b tsx wn.pr.c tsx wn.pr.d tsx wn.pr.e indices s & p tsx 60 component industry food processing food distribution founded toronto ontario canada 1882 founder george weston headquarters toronto ontario canada area served canada and the united states key people galen weston executive chairman revenue 32.742 billion can 2012 profit 486 million can 2012 owner weston family 63 % number of employees 140 800 2012 subsidiaries www.westonfoods.ca website www.weston.ca george weston limited often referred to as weston or weston s is a canadian food processing and distribution company . founded by george weston in 1882 the company today consists of weston foods a wholly owned subsidiary and loblaw companies limited the country s largest supermarket retailer in which it maintains controlling interest . retail brands include president s choice no name and joe fresh in addition to bakery brands wonder country harvest d italiano weightwatchers ready bake moulin rouge and gadoua . the company is controlled by the weston family which owns a majority share in george weston limited . contents 1 history 1.1 bread route 1.2 model bakery 1.3 canada bread 1.4 world war i 1.5 english quality biscuits 1.6 expansion 1.7 depression 1.8 great britain 1.9 world war ii 1.10 post war 1.11 diversification and disclosure 1.12 consolidation 1.13 private labels 1.14 free trade 1.15 acquisition and divestiture 1.16 retrenchment 2 brands 2.1 bakery 2.2 grocery 3 corporate governance 4 operations 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit bread route edit in 1882 toronto bread salesman george weston who got his start at the age of 12 as a baker s apprentice went into business for himself when he bought a bread route from his employer g.h. bowen . two years later weston bought out bowen s sullivan st. bakery and began baking and delivering his own bread . his first employee was charles upshall another young baker and the two worked long hours baking and delivering bread . weston s business prospered particularly with the development of his real home made bread made from a combination of manitoba no. 1 hard wheat and ontario fall wheat . 1 his bakery underwent at least four expansions . at a time when many bakers were reluctant to adopt new technology believing it adversely affected the taste and quality of their bread 2 weston began introducing modern equipment to automate the baking process . he has not spared expense getting in the latest designs of machinery to mix his dough proclaimed one newspaper ad . 3 eventually he renamed his bakery on sullivan street the g. weston s bread factory . model bakery toronto illustration from the mercantile & financial times of boston new york and chicago summer 1899 . model bakery edit in october 1897 george weston unveiled his model bakery canada s largest and most modern bread factory at the corner of soho and phoebe streets in toronto . newspaper reports told of how weston had travelled to other countries to inspect the latest in baking technology and that his new establishment represented the best of what he had seen . not only was the factory hailed for its efficiency and cleanliness but also its capacity to turn out thousands of loaves of bread remember that bread alone is made in this immense factory and such bread it is that has made the name of its maker famous . over 3200 large loaves are turned out on an average daily but the factory has a capacity of 6 500 loaves . one may judge the largeness of the business done weekly when it takes nearly three hundreds barrels of flour to supply the weekly demand . two teams are kept busy all day friday and saturday hauling flour to supply the week s needs . 4 decorative bread wagon model bakery co. postcard toronto ca. 1908 . although the model bakery was well received by the toronto press its appearance resulted in a price war apparently initiated by the city s other bakers . on hearing that competitors were offering cut rate bread contrary to a local bakers agreement that set a standard price for a loaf of bread george weston left the bakers association and lowered his prices . in retaliation the competition dropped what they charged at the wholesale level in an apparent 5 attempt to fill store shelves with their bread . in spite of the price war the model bakery continued to expand production such that a year later business had increased by 78 percent . less than two years later george weston was selling his bread to 38 cities and towns beyond toronto s borders . 6 by 1901 the factory s output had reached 10 000 large loaves a day and its bread was shipped to over 100 communities throughout ontario . 7 by 1899 weston had also established in the town of oshawa northeast of toronto a branch bakeshop which he described as a miniature model bakery for the production of bread . 8 while the model bakery established george weston as canada s biggest baker he had already begun to move beyond bread into other lines of baked goods . model bakery biscuit travellers or salesmen soho and phoebe streets toronto postcard ca. 1910 . by 1897 he had set up a separate shop for the making of cakes crumpets pastries and buns . then early in the new century weston began making biscuits both fancy and sodas . while the bread business was very competitive and typically low margin biscuits offered higher margins . within a few years the model bakery had a dozen salesmen taking orders for weston s biscuits from merchants throughout ontario . in promoting his new vanilla wafer biscuits weston employed a form of early direct marketing . from a decorative bread wagon salesmen handed out free samples of the new biscuits and told housewives to ask for them at their grocer s. in 1901 george weston merged with j.l. spink a flour mill operator at pickering ontario to form the model bakery company . the amalgamation soon raised concerns though that the new partnership would result in higher bread prices . in a letter to local newspapers weston tried to allay fears of a bread trust and asserted that rather than an attempt to destroy competition that the merger would reduce the price of bread by cutting out the middleman s profit ... we are believers in honest competition . some bakers are endeavouring to fill the minds of the grocers and the public in general with the fact that we intend to get control of the bread baking business for the purpose of raising the price of bread to consumers . now i wish to give this a straight denial . by the amalgamation of these two concerns the mill and the bakery we are going to lessen our expenses and the public are going to reap the advantage . 9 weston further contended that the new venture would ensure the very choicest flour for the model bakery and its bread . but while the weston spink partnership lasted five years for reasons unknown it was eventually dissolved and the baker and miller went their separate ways . weston s advertisement bread biscuits and fine cakes the globe toronto 1911 canada bread edit in 1911 george weston entered into another merger this time with fellow bakers in toronto montreal and winnipeg to form the canada bread company . the model bakery became part of the assets of canada bread and a new weston s biscuit factory went into production at the corner of peter and richmond streets in toronto . meanwhile the canada bread partners agreed to stay out of the bread making business for at least the next ten years . with the expiration of that non compete clause and at the urging of former customers who complained about the quality of the city s bread george weston re entered the bread business in 1921 . world war i edit as world war i dragged on various shortages arose and some biscuit lines had to be discontinued . in spite of those difficulties the company remained profitable . but with the tragic loss of a youngest son and concern that his eldest son garfield might not return from overseas duty as a soldier in the canadian expeditionary force george weston considered selling the company to competitor christie brown and company . a letter from garfield from the trenches of war torn france in which he asked his father to hold on until his return home convinced george weston not to sell his business . english quality biscuits edit advertisement for weston s english quality biscuits toronto daily star november 15 1922 in 1922 george and garfield weston undertook a new and somewhat risky venture with the introduction of english quality biscuits . while in england as a young canadian soldier garfield had toured the world famous british biscuit factories and came away convinced that a similar product could be manufactured and successfully marketed in canada . after the armistice he convinced his skeptical father to import machines to make english style cookies in canada . 10 in addition to importing biscuit making ovens all the way from england the company brought master baker william doyle from london . that year weston s english quality biscuits were launched with an advertising campaign that included an elaborate display at the canadian national exhibition in toronto this unique exhibit is the method chosen by weston s to acquaint exhibition visitors with the fact that they are now making right here in toronto biscuits equal in every respect to the finest imported english lines the standard of the world . english master bakers and english making machines have been installed at weston s new english biscuit factory and the great opportunity of these english lines is proven by the fact that a 24 hour day production has been maintained for several weeks past . 11 the company also produced a sampler tin of the new biscuits that sold very well . weston s english quality biscuits proved a long term success and the product line became the basis for the company s continued growth . expansion edit with the death of george weston in 1924 w. garfield weston became president of george weston limited at the age of 26 . garfield who had effectively been running the company the past several years set the firm on a path of expansion . in 1928 he took the company public and made his first major acquisition william paterson ltd. a brantford ontario biscuit and confectionery maker . 12 the company also made its first foray into the american market but the effort ended in near disaster . a weston s english quality biscuits factory was set up at watertown near boston massachusetts but after a series of missteps that included a botched advertising campaign the plant was closed . it was later realized that a senior manager had secretly been working for the competition . the american company was subsequently reorganized and a new biscuit plant established near passaic new jersey . depression edit in spite of the great depression george weston limited continued to expand in ontario and western canada . the company bought lawlor s bread limited of toronto for over a quarter million dollars in 1930 . it went on to acquire regal bakeries limited in ontario in 1931 independent biscuit co. of calgary that same year and lawrence bread limited in 1933 . as the depression deepened and george weston limited remained profitable it bought companies and operations under favourable terms . in 1933 for example it extended its servicee area to 100 miles around toronto with the acquisition of ontario bakeries limited from its trustee and receiver in this