THE HISTORY OF BRITISH ARKADY

Augustus Muir in his "History of Baker Perkins" states – "Some experiments, carried out at Willesden by Hinman Baker, son of W. King Baker, resulted in the discovery of a combination of chemicals that enhanced the action of yeast in bread. To market this 'bread-improver', the British Arkady Company Ltd. was formed, and the firm retained a financial interest in it until the time came when the directors decided that its products were outside their traditional range, and they sold the holding to the Ward Baking Company of America".

Baker Perkins Annual Reports begin to mention British Arkady in 1923 – "The British Arkady Company Ltd. in which your Company has a substantial holding …". Adequate dividends appear to have been received from the company's shareholding throughout. In 1935, the "company extended its works" and in 1936 "a new mill for soya bean flour was put into operation".

Baker Perkins' shareholding was finally disposed of in 1953 for a sum "which exceeded the cost to the company by £113,338".

The Website of Bakemark, UK (Arkady/Craigmillar until 2004) gives the following account of its development:

The Ward Baking Co. of New York who owned a chain of bakeries throughout the United States couldn't understand why the bread they made was different in every town. The Mellon Institute of Industrial Research was sponsored by Ward to identify the reason why. This work revealed that the mineral salt content of the local waters was causing the variation and by creating a mixture of these minerals an improvement and standardisation of the bread could be achieved. The Mellon's director of research at the time was Dr Robert Kennedy Duncan -RKD- Arkady, and so a name and product was born.

1921 - In the UK Arkady yeast food began to be manufactured in Willesden, London.

1925 - British Arkady co. moved to Old Trafford, Manchester. These original buildings housed factory, offices, laboratory and test bakery facilities for the marketing of a single product, Arkady.

1929 - Increasing business led to a doubling in size of these premises. 1955 The company extended its bakery expertise to complete mixes for institutional and industrial canteens.

1967 - British Arkady acquired a substantial interest in the Tweedy group, famous for its high-speed mixer developed for the Chorleywood Bread Process.

1972 - 1996 - British Arkady, now part of ADM expands its markets across the UK and Ireland and into 21 other countries with a broader range of products including bread mixes, cake, pudding and pastry mixes.