Company History
Our company was founded in 1959 by the late Sir Joseph Nickerson near the village of Rothwell which lies in a Cherry tree lined Valley in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
In the early days it was the vision and innovation of John Manton that sparked and drove the development of what we can still call the world's "foremost duck company".
Still owned by the Nickerson family today, John's dedication helped us to produce the UK’s first frozen oven ready duckling back in 1959. A year later we launched our first range of frozen duckling products under the now revered Cherry Valley brand.
By 1978 annual production had reached almost 4 million ducks and the Cherry Valley brand was fast building a reputation for unrivalled quality across Europe for catering supply.
Two years later we launched our first Crispy Peking Duck frozen ready meal into most of the leading retailers of the day. Crispy Peking Duck is still a firm household favourite, whether from the supermarket shelves or from the Chinese restaurant!
We were given the coveted Queen’s Award for Export Achievement in 1984 and again in 1994 as we expanded our customer base to cover over 80 countries worldwide.
Nowadays we are the largest duck manufacturer in the UK, selling over 9 million ducks every year. We hatch our own ducks who are then reared predominantly on local contract farms to the highest welfare standards.
We have been independently proven to be the best quality money can buy – a fact we are very proud of.