A Short History of the Big K factory & depot at Whittington Hill

by

Jim McNeill

Previous posts have covered the history W. A. Buckenham and Son Limited. The company and its grain storage and piggery operations on Whittington Hill were sold to David Frame in 1971. Later, in 1990, Daisy Hill Feeds Limited acquired them. This article covers the continued industrial use of the Whittington Hill site under the ownership by Big K Products Limited.

In 1989 the site’s storage sheds and offices were bought by Big K. At that time the piggeries (see below) belonged to GD Bowes & Sons – Norfolk Fat & Bone Co (see lorry above). Banes were in turn purchased by Cranswick Country Foods (Norfolk) Ltd who ended pig management on site and focused on processing. It was in 2020 that the piggery site was sold to Big K. Interestingly, one of the directors of Cranswick was Adam Hartley Crouch. He was also a director of Cypressa Products Limited. Like Big K, he had business dealings in Cyprus.

The Big K business started in 1964, when Theodoros Kleanthous, immigrated to the UK from Cyprus. He brought with him his island’s passion for food and set up his own Cypriot restaurant in Euston, London. However, charcoal is the most important element in Greek cooking and Theodoros simply could n’t find the right kind locally. So, he imported 10 tonnes of quality charcoal from Cyprus. Soon the word spread throughout the local restaurant community and his friends came calling. They were desperate for proper charcoal and Theodoros was happy to oblige. Over time, more requests lead to more orders from Cyprus and soon the seeds of his charcoal business grew.

In 1965, Theodoros made things official, forming the company Kleanthous & Son. Theodoros’ son Christakis (Chris) moved to the UK in 1967. Chris helped with weekend deliveries before moving into the company full time. The standard of charcoal they were receiving started to drop. Chris found new suppliers in Portugal with the help of his wife.

The summer of 1976 was a turning point for the business. That year was an absolute scorcher with 15 consecutive days that saw temperatures in the UK reach 32C.  Before this summer, it was mostly restaurants, rather than the UK public, that used charcoal. But the blistering heat led to an explosion in the home BBQ industry. It was in 1981 that the original company, Kleanthous and Sons, was rebranded as Big K. The name Big K was chosen for 3 reasons. Charcoal in Greek is kárvouno, which is the first reason. The second reason is the family name of Kleanthous. Lastly, the family’s hometown in Cyprus is Kampia.

In 1984, the company expanded its capacity five-fold with two new warehouse units at its HQ in Tottenham, London. The company’s fleet of trucks delivered Big K products across the capital. In 1989, Big K made an important expansion. They invested in the freehold property at Whittington. There, they established their own packing plant and distribution centre on the 7.5 acre site. This increase in capacity allowed them to add new product lines for the restaurant sector. They also expanded into the retail and wholesale sectors. Additionally, they reached the general public.

In 1992, Stoke Ferry Parish Council expressed concerns. Initially, it was muted that Big K might build a charcoal processing plant in the village. Malcolm Mycock was the Chair of the Parish Council at the time. He expressed his bafflement about where such a factory could be built. In the end these fears came to nothing. (Lynn Advertiser, 14.08.1992)

The home BBQ industry grew again in the mid-1990s.Big K began to add further products to their range. In April 1999 the company won a European gold award for its packaging (Lynn Advertiser, 09.04.1999).

Over the last 15 years or so the company continued to grow in line with the charcoal sector as a whole. The Whittington site now has three production lines packing summer, winter and restaurant products. Their winter fuel range includes coal products, hardwood logs, and kindling wood. They also stock outdoor living products, including barbecues and accessories. With these additions, Big K runs all year round. Their varied range helps in reducing the risk of being dependent on a limited product range.

In 2020 the company bought the nearby piggeries. They have recently completely rebuilt and modernised its production and warehousing facilities. This rebuild helps the company meet spikes in demand. These spikes occur due to changes in the UK weather. Anyone passing by over the past two years will have seen the development work that has been going on.

Further expansion is planned, though this may be inhibited by the increasing price of raw materials.

Greening the future

The avowed long-term goal of the company is to reduce its use of plastic packaging. It wants to move to paper as much as possible. This requires investment in new machinery. The company must work with packaging suppliers to find out the latest improvements in this constantly evolving industry.

Big K say they see sustainability as the future of the charcoal industry. They have a growing list of products made from renewable sources. These include kindling wood made from waste off cuts from the manufacturing industry, heatlogs made from waste sawdust, and charcoal apple wood briquettes. These briquettes come from coppiced end of life apple tree plantations. Cocoshell briquettes are made from waste coconut shells.

Their stated belief is that there has to be a move away from lumpwood charcoal towards recycled products such as sawdust briquettes. To help meet this need, they have embarked on a joint venture with an overseas company. This company manufactures briquettes from waste. They are also working to add more recycled products to the Big K product range.

All BIG K fire wood is UK sourced and, as far as possible it is from local suppliers. They actively look for UK suppliers of BBQ wood and purchase it as it becomes available. Their wood arrives in 2-3 meters length. It then stands for 3-6 months before being cut again, split and allowed to stand for a further 3-6 months. The installation of a new dryer to replace existing one is imminent and will run on the sawdust from the wood sawing process.

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