Sovereignty

Cadbury is American

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John Cadbury started with a grocery store in Birmingham, England in 1824, selling cocoa and drinking chocolate, which he made himself with a pestle and mortar. He was a Quaker and believed that drinking chocolate was a healthy alternative to alcohol. Eventually he began producing drinking chocolate and cocoa on a commercial scale. His sons later took over the business and added chocolate bars to the product line. It was such a success that in 1919 Cadbury bought rival brand Frys. In the sixties, my school was in smelling distance of Cadbury's in Bournville, where I learned how good they were to their workers and community. In 1969 Cadbury merged with drinks company Schweppes, but they demerged in 2008. Then in 2010 US food giant Kraft reportedly paid £11.9 billion ($16.25bn) for the confectionary firm. Kraft is the world's second-largest food company after Nestle.

Walkers is American

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Butcher Henry Walker started making crisps in 1948 when post-war meat rationing forced him to diversify. In the 1950s the firm successfully began experimenting with different flavoured crisps and soon Walkers was Britain's most successful snack-food brand.The Walkers brand, including the world's largest crisp factory in Leicester, England, was briefly owned by US cookie manufacturer Nabisco and French firm BSN (now called Danone). But in 1989 US food giant Pepsi Co. snapped up Walkers for a reported $2.5 billion (£1.83bn).

Lea & Perrins is American

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As the name suggests, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce was created in Worcestershire. It was devised by chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in 1837. They didn't like the taste at first and didn't give the barrels they had created a second thought. But, 18 months later they rediscovered the sauce which had mellowed and tasted fantastic. The sauce is still bottled in Worcester, made to a secret recipe that's still left to mature for 18 months. Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce became part of the Hanson Group and it was sold along with the other products in the group to French food producer Groupe Danone in 1988 for £199 million ($271.8m). The sauce, along with other brands including Daddies, was sold by Danone to US food giant Heinz in June 2005 for £470 million ($641.9m).

Tetley is Indian

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As it says on its logo, Tetley Tea was established by brothers Joseph and Edward Tetley in Yorkshire, England in 1837. In 1856 they moved the business to Cullum Street in the City of London to be next to the tea auction rooms, then the centre of the global tea trade. Joseph Tetley junior joined the company in 1871 and by 1888 it had entered the US market. Having been under a series of different ownerships, Tetley Tea was bought by Tata Tea of India in 2000. Tata Tea is part of the vast Indian conglomerate Tata. The acquisition was said to be worth £271 million ($370m) and was the largest deal in India's history.

Lyle's Golden Syrup is American

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In 1881 Abram Lyle built a sugar refinery on the banks of the River Thames in east London. The treacly syrup he named Lyle's Golden Syrup was a by-product of the sugar refinery process and it became very popular among Londoners. Lyle began selling it in the famous green and gold tin, a design that remains to this day.

In 1921 Henry Tate & Sons and Abram Lyle & Sons merged to create Tate & Lyle. Between them they refined around 50% of the UK’s sugar. In 2010 Tate & Lyle sold its European sugar refinery business, which included Lyle's Golden Syrup, to American Sugar Refining, Inc. for a reported £211 million ($288m) How Tate & Llyle have benefited from Brexit - Tate & Smile

Jaffa Cakes are Turkish

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Robert McVitie started his bakery in Edinburgh in the early nineteenth century. His son later took over, expanded the business and bought in a partner, Charles Price, to create McVitie & Price. McVitie’s Digestives, McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives, Jaffa Cakes and Penguin bars all became part of the product line. In 1948 the company merged with rival Macfarlane Lang and together they became known as United Biscuits. Turkish food conglomerate Yildiz Holding paid an estimated £2 billion ($2.73bn) for United Biscuits in 2014. Yildiz Holding is the world’s third largest biscuit manufacturer and the largest food and beverage company in Turkey. It owns over 320 brands in 49 different categories.

Sarson's vinegar is Japanese

Sarson's

In 1794 Thomas Sarson founded his vinegar business in London's Craven Street, near Charing Cross. During the twentieth century the company saw steep growth. In 1913 Sarson's was brewing over a million gallons of vinegar a year, rising to five million gallons by 1950. By 1940 Sarson's was the only licensed vinegar brewery left in the UK as all its competitors had fizzled out. British food manufacturer Premier Foods purchased Sarson's in 2002. Premier Foods then sold its Sarson's vinegar brand and Haywards pickles businesses to Japanese food producer Mizkan in 2012. The deal was reported to be worth £41 million ($56m).

Kit Kat is Swiss

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Henry Rowntree opened his confectionary factory in York, England in 1862. Rowntree's developed many sweets and chocolates that became household names such as Jelly Tots, Fruit Pastilles and Kit Kat. In 1965 the company merged with its rivals Mackintosh. In 1988 Rowntree Mackintosh was snapped up by Swiss food conglomerate Nestle. The deal was said to be worth $4.5 billion (£3.3bn). Kit Kats are still made in York, but they are also produced in factories all over the world and one of the most globally known chocolate bars.

Wall's ice cream is Dutch

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London butchers T. Wall & Sons Ltd originally made sausages when the business started in 1786. But in 1913 its chairman Thomas Wall decided to boost summer sales by diversifying into ice cream. World War I put a halt to this idea, but ice cream was added to the product line 1922. In the same year British multinational Lever Brothers bought Wall's. In 1929 Lever Brothers merged with Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and together they become Unilever. Unilever currently has offices in the UK and the Netherlands but has announced plans to move its headquarters to Rotterdam. Wall's, however, remains one of its core companies.

Marmite is Dutch

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German scientist Justus Liebig was the first to realise that concentrated brewers' yeast was good to eat back in 1902. The Marmite Food Factory was established in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, England, with the town selected because it was surrounded by many breweries where Marmite's raw ingredients could be sourced easily. Wondering how it got its name? It was packaged in a jar that resembled a French earthenware cooking pot called a 'marmite'. In 1990 Marmite became a subsidiary of Bovril Ltd. Bovril was subsequently bought by US-based CPC International. CPC International renamed itself as Bestfoods Inc. and this merged with Unilever in 2000 in a deal worth £17 billion ($25bn).

Colmans Mustard

Colman's (est. in 1814) is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formally based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. It was sold for £450m to US Lysol, but now owned by Unilever since, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited range of products, almost all varieties of mustard.

Drinks

Innocent is American

Innocent

Three university friends Adam Balon, Richard Reed and Jon Wright sold their first three cases of smoothies to a local sandwich bar in 1999. Their first foray into mainstream retailers was in 2000 when the supermarket Waitrose agreed to trial their drinks. The drinks were such a hit they received a regular order. Between 2002 and 2007 the company expanded rapidly around Europe, with offices from Ireland to Germany. In 2009 Coca-Cola bought an 18% stake in Innocent. Then in 2013 the American drinks giant upped its stake to over 90%, giving it overall control of the company. The terms of the deal is not known, but the three founders are believed to have made substantial profits and are no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the company.

Beefeater gin is French

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James Burrough bought a distillery in London's Chelsea in 1863 for £400 ($547). By 1876 he was producing many varieties of gin, including the now flagship brand Beefeater Dry Gin, named after the Tower of London's Beefeater guards.In 1987 Beefeater was sold to hospitality business Whitbread and then became part of Allied Domecq. In 2005 Beefeater Dry Gin became part of French drinks producer Pernod Ricard after they teamed up with US drinks firm Fortune Brands to buy and divide up Allied Domecq in a £7.4 billion ($10.11b) deal.

Newcastle Brown Ale is Danish

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Colonel Jim Porter started producing Newcastle Brown Ale at the firm he worked for, Newcastle Breweries, in 1927. He rose up the company's ranks and when in 1960, the Newcastle upon Tyne-based Newcastle Breweries merged with Scottish Brewers, Porter became vice chairman of the newly formed Scottish & Newcastle. In 1995 Scottish & Newcastle swallowed up competitor Courage, but in 2008 the firm was jointly acquired by Dutch brewer, Heineken and the Danish firm Carlsberg for £7.8 billion ($10.66bn). The two companies divided the business's brands between them and Heineken took control of Newcastle Brown Ale. Controversially Heineken moved production of the ale to the Netherlands in 2017.