Company History of A.C. Ward & Son Ltd.
Alfred Charles Ward left his native Laxfield, in Suffolk, in 1860 moving to Coggeshall in Essex. He was already in the retail grocery business and re-established himself in Coggeshall. He was a deeply religious man and found himself without a Methodist Chapel and, "being unable to live without Methodism", decided to build the Chapel which still stands in the town. The retail business prospered and was inherited by Alfred Charles Lawson Ward, his son, when AC died in his mid forties. ACL inherited the business when he was fourteen and eventually established another shop in Kelvedon. Contemporary photographs of this shop exist and it was called, fashionably for the time, A. C. Ward Supply Store. ACL was successful and expanded like his father before him. The stock range was small compared with today and many commodities were hand weighed with the greatest care with, sometimes, large raisins being halved to make the correct weight! Sugar, flour, butter, cheese and many other commodities were the product of the shop rather than being the branded items we all know today.
Alfred junior decided to start wholesaling as a result of going to Braintree market, some 9 miles from Kelvedon, where he bought a bicycle which, to his surprise, he sold at a profit almost immediately. The wholesale business grew so the premises at Feering were bought in 1920 for the sum of £2,000 which included a large house and grounds with a two acre paddock and five-acre field attached. The premises were quite small, some 1000 square feet. Expansion was steady and the delivery area was kept within a 10-mile radius of Kelvedon. This had originally been necessary because ponies were limited in their daily delivery range! In 1945, with the assistance of two sons, Des and John, the turnover was £1500 a week. The war had a severely limiting effect on the business as rationing was a major inhibitor to expansion. Sugar products were rationed until the mid 1950's when the country really started to recover from the austerity of the post-war period.
Jonathan Ward joined the company in 1960 when the turnover was £8,000 a week. It was then that a period of extreme competition started with the irresistible march of the multiple grocers and the relative demise of the local shop. The 10-mile delivery radius still prevailed but this was quickly expanded as customers became thinner on the ground. The size of the warehouse was steadily expanded from 6000 sq. ft. to, ultimately, 25000 sq ft. AC Ward became fully computerised in 1981, at an overall cost of £80,000 for a 250mb system. This enabled the firm to cut office staff and, for once, actually know what it was doing on a day to day basis. There was also a relatively large investment in modern technology and modern delivery systems. The business still expanded through organic growth and the takeover of other, failing, local wholesalers - some 6 in total. Deliveries were undertaken to London and farther afield. James Ward joined the company in 1995 and also made great improvements to the overall business. The turnover had now risen to £350,000 a week.
AC Ward is different in as much as it has survived when the vast majority of wholesale competitors have disappeared - this is still a mystery!
In April 2003 we bought E.V. Saxton and Sons from the Irish wholesaler BWG. This gave us a modern distribution facility in West Thurrock and the ability to expand and become the leading independent wholesaler in the South East. By 2005 we were listed as the 25th largest wholesaler in the UK, and were the third largest in Key Lekkerland.
In November 2004 we were approached by Blueheath, a competitor, who were keen to purchase our business based in Thurrock. We completed the deal in October 2005, and as part of the transaction we kept our cash and carry business in Sudbury, which we renamed Forward Foods.
Since March 2005 Forward Foods has grown with our turnover increasing by 100% in the first year. We are now well placed for further expansion through both organic growth and acquisitions.
As a far smaller business than we were previously we are able to offer our customers a first class service, which has helped us expand and will help us to prosper in the future.
