Quaker joined the PepsiCo family in 2001, helping to make it the fifth largest consumer goods company in the world.
Quaker's UK market-leading products include Quaker Oats, Quaker OatSo Simple, Quaker Granola Cereals and Snack A Jacks, as well as Scott's Porage Oats, and Scott's So Easy, which are the leaders in their respective fields in Scotland.
Quaker currently holds 52.9% share of the hot breakfast sector*, the fastest growing sector in the breakfast market.
The first Quaker Oats
The Quaker story began in 1850 when John Stuart left the Highlands of Scotland for Canada where he acquired an old oat mill. He then moved to the United States and built a plant at Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The plant is now the largest of its kind in the world.
Quaker's UK story began in 1936 when, to meet growing demand, Quaker built a plant in Southall, Middlesex. In 1982, Quaker bought A & R Scott, the maker of Scott's Porage Oats, which had been milling oats in Cupar, Fife, since 1899.
Shortly after, the company made the oat mill the main centre of Quaker's oat milling in Europe.
The factory currently produces the majority of all Quaker oat products for the UK, Europe and Middle East, such as Quaker Oats, Scott's Porage Oats and OatSo Simple.
Today, the mill is one of the largest oat mills in Western Europe, with its products sold in Scandinavia, France, Africa and the Middle East as well as the UK.
From the ground to the bowl
The factory in Cupar produces around 60,000 tonnes of oats a year. Every winter, 47 million gallons of porridge are eaten in the UK.
Our oat experts oversee the milling of all Quaker Oats. They are kilned for three hours, which ensures that they are milled to perfection.
Quaker works closely with its UK growers, developing the best quality oats through field trials and by continuously improving growing practices. Many of our oats are locally grown in the Scottish Highlands.
Quaker Oats are usually planted in September or October and are ready for harvesting by early August the following year.
Why are oats good for you?
There are many health benefits to eating oats.
Containing no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, every Quaker serving contains enough beta glucan to help lower cholesterol and maintain a healthy heart.
Not only this, oats are a good source of protein, containing the highest levels of any cereal. Oats provide soluble fibre which means they release energy slowly. So, eating porridge for breakfast can help keep you going until lunchtime.
Making our oats sustainable
At Quaker, we have made great efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, and we have successfully reduced our carbon emissions by 5% per kilo of product between 2006 and 2007.
Quaker recently announced plans to use renewable energy to power the Uthrogle Mill site at Cupar. The groundbreaking plans will see oat husks, the part of the oat not used to make porridge, being used to generate the entire site's energy.
The new plans will also reduce carbon emissions by 600 tonnes as the husks will no longer have to be transported away from the site, saving road miles.
Quaker is also a founder member of Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), which helps farmers have a positive environmental input by improving their growing and harvesting practices and their water and fertiliser use.
Supporting charities
At Quaker, we are keen to support charities. In 2007 we launched a joint initiative with Heart Research UK to raise awareness of the risks posed by high cholesterol and to lobby the government to provide free cholesterol tests for everybody over 35.
We are also a partner of Fair Share, a charity which helps provide food for people who live in poverty. We donate our surplus produce to the charity, which helps feed those in need and also reduces the amount of waste we send to landfill sites.
*Nielsen latest 52 weeks value sales growth 05.07.08 (figure includes Scotts)
