Lazy Day Foods: Scottish free-from and vegan bakery business employing 190 people taken over

A Scottish free-from bakery specialist is looking to bulk up on overseas sales after being swallowed by a European peer.

Lazy Day Foods was founded in 2006 as a fully free-from bakery manufacturer, including gluten, milk, eggs and nuts. Since then, it has grown to become one of the UK’s top, specialist bakery businesses, and moved into a purpose-built facility at Harthill in 2017.

The firm has now been acquired by bakery products manufacturer Baker & Baker (B&B) on undisclosed terms. It is the second acquisition made by B&B since becoming a standalone bakery products business, following a deal to acquire its Pastel de Nata facility in Peniche, Portugal in 2022.

Lazy Day Foods was founded in 2006 and specialises in free-from and vegan treats.

Lazy Day Foods currently employs some 190 staff at its site in North Lanarkshire, where it manufactures around 75 permanent and seasonal product lines for mainly UK retail and food service customers. The Lazy Day Foods’s consumer-facing brand will be retained, and this will be “proactively marketed” with B&B’s existing UK and international customer base.

Lazy Day Foods’ shareholders, chairman David Kilshaw and joint managing directors Emer Bustard and Sally Beattie, said: “We are immensely proud of what Lazy Day Foods has become since it was founded in 2006. Our mission has always been to make great tasting free-from and vegan treats so that no one misses out on the joys of everyday life.

“In Baker & Baker, we have found the ideal owner to take the business forward. They have the scale, expertise and international reach to bring Lazy Day to many more free-from shoppers.”

Baker & Baker operates a number of brands as well as having licensing brand agreements with Mondelez and Disney.

Chief executive Matthew Acheson said: “We believe that our scale and broad customer relationships will accelerate the growth of Lazy Day Foods, while Lazy Day Foods’ deep experience and expertise will further enhance our capabilities and category offering.

“We’re firmly committed to maintaining the operation and employee base at the Lazy Day Foods site in Harthill, and we expect to see the business continue to flourish - we’re excited about the growth possibilities over the coming years.”

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