Thorntons - Thorntons Expands Again and Reorganizes

Thorntons Expands Again and Reorganizes

In 1968 Norman Thornton finally gave up his Chairmanship of the company and Tony and Stanley became Joint Managing Directors. The company began manufacturing for Marks and Spencer under their trading name and started the franchising system which made retailing in small towns possible.

In 1978 a management re-organisation took place when Peter moved to retail management and John took over as Production Director, this was changed again after another year when John became Joint Managing Director in charge of Operations and Peter, Joint Managing Director responsible for Sales and Marketing. Peter then worked together with Professor Peter Doyle of Bradford and later Warwick University to carry out a retail re-positioning exercise which was eventually very successful the company making a net profit of 11.75% in 1981 equivalent to £6.23 million in current terms.