Lyons

About Us:

Lyons is a subsidiary of Dairibord Holdings Limited, having been acquired in 2001. Dairibord Holdings has a 100% ownership in Martindale Trading (Private) Limited t/a Lyons. Lyons manufacturers and markets of nutritious food and beverage brands for the Zimbabwean market as well s for the export markets.

Lyons is located at 198 Simon Mazorodze Road, Harare, Zimbabwe. Lyons is ISO9001:2000 certified.

The Lyons food and beverage brand portfolio is as follows:

Brand Category

Key Brands

Beverages

Cordials

• Quench Cordials and Syrups
• Xtra Value Cordials

Ready To Drink (RTDs)

• Cascade Dairy Fruit Mix

Teas & Coffees

• Quick Brew Tea Bags
• Lyons Drinking Chocolate

Foods

Condiments & Sauces

• Rabroy Tomato Sauce
• Rabroy Salad Cream
• Rabroy Mayonnaise
• Lyons Peanut Butter

Ice Creams

• Lyons Maid Bulk Ice Creams
• Lyons Maid Ice Cream Stick Lines
• Quench Lolly Ice Cream Stick Lines
• Lyons Maid Ice Cream Cups

 History of Lyons:

J.Lyons, the company after which Lyons is named was founded in London, England, in the year 1894.

Later that year the company opened the first of its famous teashops in London and soon there were hundreds of Lyons teashops and the larger Lyons Corner Houses, all over Britain.

Every Corner House consisted of up to nine restaurants on four or five floors, each with its own band or musical ensemble, and provided an astonishing variety of settings and menus, as well as sizeable front shops selling confectionery, cakes, teas and coffees.

The food products for sale were of course manufactured by the parent company, J.Lyons.

In 1950 the parent company registered a wholly owned subsidiary in then Southern Rhodesia at the same premises on Simon Mazorodze Road in Harare that Lyons occupies today.

Three years later another British company, Brooke Bond Limited, registered their wholly owned subsidiary only 800 meters away on Hobbs Road, today the home of Lyons Maid Ice Cream vending operations.

Both companies initially concentrated on tea packaging. In October 1963, it was decided to merge them in face of the economic and political uncertainties caused by breakup of the Central African Federation.

Lyons Brooke Bond was then born, manufacturing a very large range of foodstuffs and that was the name of the company until August 1995 when Brooke Bond, the minority shareholder, sold out to the majority shareholder, J.Lyons. By that time J.Lyons itself was part of Allied Domnecq plc, which has since sold off all the Lyons food interests.

In April 2001, Lyons Zimbabwe was acquired by Dairibord Holdings Limited and the name changed to just Lyons.