OUR
STORY
1880's
Fruitfield
The factory chimney still remains today
Charles and Charlotte Lamb arrived in Ireland in the 1880’s from the small Oxfordshire village of Sibford Ferris where the Quaker Lamb family have been living since at least the mid-17th century.
Charles came first to work at the Richardson’s linen mill in Bessbrook before taking the opportunity to acquire some farmland near Richhill in the county of Armagh, where the young couple started making jam with the fruit they grew on the farm. They had eight children.
From these small beginnings they developed the fruit preserving business that became known throughout Ireland as Fruitfield.
Realising the need to expand, three of the sons in the family moved to Dublin and in 1922 established what became the primary factory for Fruitfield.
The Lamb family sold the company in the early 1980’s and it is now owned by Valeo Foods.
1930's
Irish Road Motors
One of the brother’s however stayed in Richhill. Also called Charles, his interest lay in the rather new industry of bikes and cars.
Charles’ big break came when he was offered the Ford Motor agency for County Armagh in the 1930’s.
Although Irish Road Motors, the company he established, was sold by the family many years ago, today it continues operating but is now running vehicle accident repairs centres in Campsey and Craigavon.
Charles and his wife Elizabeth continued to run the family farm in Richhill where they reared their four children.
1984-2001
The Pie Man
After many years of farming, in 1984, following a holiday in the south of France where they saw and were inspired by a little pie shop, they decided to open a shop and restaurant in Portadown called The Pieman. This restaurant ran until 2001 and was the inspiration for our own company, Farringford Foods.
1791kJ
1993
Biscuit emballé individuellement
Emballé dans une boîte de présentation biodégradable, recyclable et compostable
They established the company on their present site in order to expand production of the chilled cake range which they had begun selling in The Pieman. Having grown, they were at that point selling to 50+ retailers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England.
Unitéalso making individually wrapped cake slices and muffins for food service customers in Northern Ireland under the Finn McCool brand.
1999
2000
2019
2021
In 2000 Farringford Foods started supplying the Education Authority in Northern Ireland with a range of single portion bakery products. Schools and colleges remain a key part of their business.
Another key moment in their company history came in 2015 when they purchased the Grace's Irish Biscuit brand from Billy Bullock who had established this brand some ten years earlier. That year they started selling this range to customers like World Market and British Wholesale import in the USA and they now supply over 300 retail outlets across the United States.
In 2019 they changed the 'Grace’s' brand name to 'Clare’s' as this allowed them to trademark their brand throughout Europe and the USA.
Pour 100gBakery’sBEST.
Sale of their products in the Republic of Ireland developed gradually but became a core part of
their business as they began supplying their Cork based distributor Global Food & Beverage in 2004.
Glenis retired from the company in 2016. Mark, another brother, joined Farringford Foods for a few years before also retiring.
As the company grew Farringford Foods needed more space and in 2017 they doubled the size of their small factory to cope with extra demand.
'As a forward thinking company we continue to look for new opportunities to grow & develop as a company'
Simon C. Lamb, Managing Director