Worth an estimated £12bn, the duo ranked seventh in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List – significantly above alcoholic beverages manufacturer Glenn Gordon and family (ranked 55).
The Rich List ranks the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the UK by net wealth, including people born overseas.
Also featured in the top 10 richest food and drink manufacturers were 2 Sisters owner Ranjit Singh Boparan and his family, Nomad foods owner Martin Franklin and Manfred Gorvy and family, owner of Refresco.
This year’s list saw four new entries by food and drink business owners. The Billington Family (worth £160m) ranked 731st on the list, followed by dairy nutrition manufacturer Volac owners James Neville and family (worth £132m) in 891st.
Stuart Dalziel and family, owners of Dalziel, which supplies meat, sundries and ingredients to processors and butchers, took the 920th position with net worth of £128m.
Adam and Jason Fuller and family – owners of frozen food firm Fullers Foods – were ranked 978th (worth £120m).
To find out about these people and more, click on the next slide in this photo gallery of the top 10 richest people in food and drink manufacturing.
Topping the list of the richest food and drink business owners in the UK were Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho, owners of brewery giant Heineken.
The pair dropped a position compared to last year’s list – seventh down from sixth – despite their net worth growing £900m, having been overtaken by Tetra Pak owners Kirsten and Jorn Rausing.
Since the last Rich List, Heineken injected £40m into London-based craft beer firm Beavertown to help construct a 450,000-hectolitre (hl) brewery and create 150 jobs, after securing a minority stake in the business.
Whisky distiller William Grant & Sons chairman Glenn Gordon and family dropped a place in this year’s rich list, ranking 54th with a net worth of £2.882bn.
Increasing their wealth by £310m in the past year, the family continue to be the wealthiest in Scotland – the sixth year in a row. They outranked Sir Ian Wood and family (oil services and fishing) with a net worth of £1.763bn and Mohamed Al Fayed and family (retailing) worth £1.7bn.
In February, Scotch whisky topped UK exports in 2018, growing 7.8% in value terms to £4.7bn, according to the Scotch Whisky Association.
Manfred Gorvy and family climbed this year’s Rich List ladder, landing themselves in the 155th position up from 163rd last year, with a net worth of £953m.
Last year saw Refresco partner with logistics firm Ralph Davies’s tanker division, RDI, to help move its juice from Europe to its Bridgewater facility. In 2017, the soft drinks bottler acquired Cott Beverage’s UK manufacturing business.
Taking the 213th spot on this year’s Rich List was Nomad Foods co-founder Martin Franklin, with a net worth of £605m.
Slipping from his position of 207th on last year’s list, the man behind the Birds Eye and Findus brands was reported to have no change in his worth for 2019.
In October, Birds Eye reported profit before tax of £17.1m – up from £15.8m – in the year ending 31 December 2018. However, it said the outlook for 2019 remained challenging.
Dropping down this year’s Rich List was 2 Sisters Food Group owner Ranjit Singh Boparan and his wife Baljinder, after their wealth was slashed by £106m.
Down to 219th position from 183rd in last year’s list, the pair were reported to be worth £640m.
Last year presented a number of difficulties for 2 Sisters, as it recovered from an undercover report by the Guardian and ITV News in 2017 that accused it of poor production standards.
The company has since shed a number of business in a bid to refocus on its core offering, including Green Isle and Donegal Catch.
Taking the title of the sixth richest people in the UK food and drink industry were Agust and Lydur Gudmundsson, chief executive and non-executive director of Bakkavor respectively, with a net worth of £560m – ranked 247th, down from 197th.
Ranked 254th in the rich list and seventh richest were David Samworth and family, with a wealth of £540m. The owners of Samworth Brothers fell down the list from 225th last year.
In eighth place was Robin Faccenda and his family, chairman of poultry Processor Faccenda Group. Faccenda climbed six places on this year’s rich list, taking the 374th spot with a net worth of £350m.
Tild Rice owners Vipul Thakrar and family were the ninth wealthiest people in food and drink, ranking 562nd on the Rich List with a net worth of £214m.
Just sneaking into the top 10 was Iqbal Ahmed and family, owners of frozen food processor Seamark. The family was worth £213m and was ranked 563rd.
