Lazy Day Foods, which makes free-from vegan baked goods, has been acquired by Baker & Baker to expand its presence across Europe.
As the consolidation wave continued to engulf the future food industry, a free-from bakery brand from Scotland has become the latest to undergo an acquisition.
Lazy Day Foods, known for its allergen-free plant-based baked goods, has been purchased by Baker & Baker for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will help Baker & Baker expand its presence in the free-from baked goods segment, and leverage its existing customer network and European footprint to widen Lazy Day Foods’s presence into international markets.
“We’re delighted to welcome Lazy Day Foods into the Baker & Baker family,” said Baker & Baker CEO Matthew Acheson. “We have strong expertise in gluten-free bakery via our Ashington site, which will be further enhanced by the brilliant commercial and technical teams at Lazy Day Foods.”
Baker & Baker to retain and promote Lazy Day Foods brand
Lazy Day Foods has been around for two decades now, built on a plant-based, allergy-friendly philosophy that eschews nuts, dairy, eggs, and gluten to cater to the 20% of Brits who are hypersensitive to certain foods (and the 6% who have a confirmed food allergy).
It operates a purpose-built facility in Harthill, North Lanarkshire, employing 190 people and producing around 75 permanent and seasonal product lines for retail and foodservice consumers across both branded and private-label channels.
Some of its current products include millionaire’s shortbread, rocky road, caramel blondies, caterpillar cakes, Scottish shortbread, salted caramel crispies, and an indulgent chocolate cake.
The company has emerged as one of the leading specialist free-from bakeries in the UK, and has a strong distribution network throughout the country. Following its acquisition, the Lazy Day Foods brand will be retained and actively promoted to Baker & Baker’s domestic and international customers.
“We are immensely proud of what Lazy Day Foods has become since it was founded in 2006,” Lazy Day Foods chairman David Kilshaw and joint managing directors Emer Bustard and Sally Beattie said in a joint statement. “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.”
Free-from category a natural extension for Baker & Baker
The deal expands Baker & Baker’s manufacturing footprint to five sites across the UK (including its first in Scotland), and boosts its headcount to 2,650 employees. The company already has experience in the gluten-free bakery sector through its Ashington site, and views the broader free-form category as a natural extension of its product offering.
“We believe that our scale and broad customer relationships will accelerate the growth of Lazy Day Foods, while Lazy Day Foods’s deep experience and expertise will further enhance our capabilities and category offering,” said Acheson. “We’re firmly committed to investing in and growing the Lazy Day Foods site in Harthill, and we’re excited about the possibilities over the coming years.”
Lazy Day Foods’s consumer-facing brand has strong shopper retention, which will help present new opportunities for Baker & Baker to expand its customer offering across the free-from segment.
In their statement, the aforementioned Lazy Day Foods shareholders called Baker & Baker “the ideal owner to take the business forward”, noting: “They have the scale, expertise and international reach to bring Lazy Day to many more free-from shoppers.
“We are delighted that the Lazy Day brand and our Harthill site will be at the heart of Baker & Baker’s free-from growth plans, and we’re confident the business and its people have a very bright future ahead.”
The acquisition is the latest in a growing list of M&A deals in the alternative protein category. Green Queen analysis shows that since September 2024, more than 90 firms in this space have been bought out, merged, fallen into insolvency, or shut down. In the UK, Happiness in Plants, Julienne Bruno, and Allplants have all changed hands over the last 12 months.
