From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
From the Ground Up - McCain Foods Limited
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
CHAPTER TWO<br />
Crossing <strong>the</strong> AtlAntiC<br />
Harrison <strong>McCain</strong> stood on a hill in <strong>the</strong> seaside town of Scarborough, on England’s<br />
Yorkshire coast, and stared in amazement. Then he turned to Wallace <strong>McCain</strong> and<br />
Mac McCarthy and said, “You must both have been drunk when you bought this<br />
piece of land.”<br />
The land in question was to be <strong>the</strong> site of a <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> factory. On completion,<br />
in 1969, it would become <strong>the</strong> company’s first manufacturing facility outside Canada.<br />
But it was hardly an ideal spot to build a frozen foods factory. The sloping terrain<br />
would increase construction costs and result in awkward internal arrangements, such<br />
as <strong>the</strong> cold storage area being almost two metres above <strong>the</strong> rest of <strong>the</strong> plant. However,<br />
it was <strong>the</strong> best site available at <strong>the</strong> time.<br />
Scarborough, England, bears no resemblance to <strong>the</strong> sprawling suburb, part of <strong>the</strong><br />
Greater Toronto megalopolis, that is its Canadian namesake. Ra<strong>the</strong>r, it is a beach resort<br />
on <strong>the</strong> North Sea with a permanent population of about fifty thousand, rising to<br />
two hundred thousand in <strong>the</strong> summer.<br />
It wasn’t <strong>the</strong> company’s first choice – that had been McCarthy’s hometown of<br />
Grimsby, close to Lincolnshire’s potato country, where <strong>McCain</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> already had<br />
an office. But no suitable site was available <strong>the</strong>re and so <strong>the</strong> company settled on<br />
Scarborough. Scarborough did have several advantages, including an abundant supply<br />
of both water and labour. Wastewater from <strong>the</strong> plant could be piped directly into<br />
<strong>the</strong> North Sea. Also, Scarborough was in a depressed area where <strong>the</strong> British government<br />
was prepared, in an effort to attract industry and create jobs, to subsidize construction<br />
of factories. And its municipal council was eager to attract <strong>McCain</strong> because<br />
a food processing plant would be an ideal complement to <strong>the</strong> short summer tourist<br />
industry that employed many female workers in hotels and restaurants for three<br />
months but left <strong>the</strong>m without jobs <strong>the</strong> rest of <strong>the</strong> year.<br />
crossing <strong>the</strong> AtlA ntic<br />
FACING PAGE: North Yorkshire,<br />
with <strong>the</strong> purple hea<strong>the</strong>r fields<br />
of <strong>the</strong> moor in <strong>the</strong> distance.<br />
39