History
1853
Essex Flour and Grain was founded by the Carwardene family. The warehouse was based in Liverpool Road, London, but using the company’s horses and carts we went door to door across the capital, selling flour, grains and rice, direct to housewives and house keepers.
1889
The company attended the Universal Cookery and Food Exhibition in Knightsbridge to showcase what the business was doing and won a silver medal.
1936
Essex Flour and Grain was taken over by the Spinks family. They continued to deliver flour, grains and rice by horse and cart, but they also, for the first and only time in EFG Foodservice history, opened a shop in Caledonian Road.
1946
During the Second World War the company briefly branched out into making and selling pasta to the public. The end of the war however saw even bigger changes; in 1946 the company acquired their first vans, retiring the horse and cart, and the customer base expanded to start including businesses.
1963
Managing Director Harry Claude Spinks received a Royal Warrant (sadly now expired) for the provision of tinned meats, vegetables, fruits and cereals to Her Majesty The Queen.
1973
Roy (Harry) Spinks, son of Harry Claude Spinks, took over from his father as Managing Director.
1975-1981
Roy's sons Michael and Richard Spinks joined the management team. Michael in 1975 followed by his brother in 1981. Shortly after Michael joined the company the first fridge was installed, rapidly growing and diversifying the product range.
(Michael can be seen on the right in this photo helping out with a delivery).
1985
We won our first schools contract, signing a deal with Haringey Council to supply all their schools. This contract allowed the company to expand, taking on an even wider range of products and a greater number of customers.
1987
Michael Spinks (pictured here) took over from his father as Managing Director, successfully transitioning the company to the third generation of Spinks’.
1996
We bid farewell to our site in Liverpool Road and re-located to our current site in Hackney, East London. We put up three purpose-built warehouses with some office space for the growing company.
2000-2013
The fourth generation of the Spinks family joins the company in the shape of Richard’s sons (Michael’s nephews) Rob and Alex in 2000, and Tim (Michael’s son – pictured here) in 2013. Together they helped to modernise the company. Tim in particular brought a real focus on technologies and streamlining processes. Alex left the company in 2012 to pursue a career with the Army and Rob left in 2015 to pursue a career at our sister site Celtic Foods in Pembroke Dock.
2014
We changed the company’s trading name to EFG Foodservice in an attempt to distance ourselves from the limited product offering of flour and grains of our past whilst still honouring our heritage.
2015-2017
Two more Spinks’ join the company in the form of Tim’s sister, Fiona (pictured here) in 2015, and her sister-in-law, Christina in 2017. Fiona brought the company some much needed organisational support in the form of Office Manager. Christina, having clocked up just shy of 10 years marketing experience in other sectors, joined the company as Head of Marketing, to build and develop the EFG Foodservice brand and marketing opportunities.
2017
EFG Foodservice made the bold move to convert one entire warehouse into frozen storage at the Hackney site substantially increasing our product offering in this area.
2018
EFG Foodservice refreshed the brand for a third time, opting for a new look and feel to mark numerous changes this year. Chief of which was purchasing a permanent site for Walter Clarke in Stevenage and rebranding the depot as EFG Foodservice Hertfordshire.