Creating a market

In 1950, Bernard Matthews bought 20 turkey eggs and an old incubator – a total investment of £2.50. Today, Bernard Matthews is a multi-national company with a turnover in excess of £400m, employing over 6000 people world-wide. While the core business remained turkey production, Bernard Matthews decided in 1992 to enter the pre-packed sliced cooked meat market. At the time, it seemed an enormous risk. The capital investment required would be substantial, the market was already dominated by supermarket’s own label products and there were…