Member Article

Upton Group Marks 50 years of Success

MORE than 110 staff, customers, suppliers and friends of vending machine and refreshments systems company, Upton Group, came from throughout the UK to mark the company’s 50th anniversary.

Founded by chairman, Alec Upton, 74, in a room at a Selby sweet shop run by his wife, Janet, in 1966, the Selby-based company, which is the biggest of its kind in North Yorkshire and operates throughout the UK, now has 70 staff and a £6m turnover.

The anniversary party, which included a sit down dinner, dancing and speeches, was held at York Marriott Hotel, Tadcaster Road, and main speaker, former founder and managing director of AIMIA Foods, St Helens, Gary Unsworth, presented Alec and Janet Upton which a special plaque inscribed “The Upton Group, 50 Years: 1966 -2016”.

Among Yorkshire businesses and customers attending the party, hosted by Upton group managing director, Ross MacDonald, were York University, Yorvale Ice Cream, Wilkes Vending, Wakefield; LTT, Leeds and Nestle.

Family business, the Upton Group, which acquired artisan coffee roaster, York Coffee Emporium, this spring, employs three generations of the Upton family including Alec and Janet’s daughter Tracy MacDonald, who is finance director, her husband, Ross MacDonald, and their daughter, Alix Upton, who joined this year as quality manager.

Ross MacDonald said: “Achieving 50 years and creating scores of jobs over half a century with a business founded as a one-man operation is no small feat. As a local Selby man Alec is immensely proud of the business and the employment he has brought to the local area as well as the fact that the company continues to go from strength to strength. The whole event was a massive success.”

Alec Upton said: “This is a very close knit industry and it was great to see everyone, including competitors. The business has grown continually and is now one of the largest ten independent vending companies within the UK. We now have significant potential in the massive coffee bean market. Our expansion plans mean the group’s future is very positive and Janet and I were grateful to all those people who gave up their time to attend”

The Upton Group also has bases in Scarborough and Hull and supplies a wide range of refreshment systems for dispensing hot and cold drinks, confectionary and snacks, fresh foods and sandwiches, chilled water as well as artisan, hand-roasted coffees to a wide spectrum of enterprises from SMEs to international businesses throughout the UK.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mike Clarke Communications .