Feldhues Fun Foods GmbH is a German-Irish meat processing company and supplier. They manufacture and sell sandwich meat and holiday meats, and sliced cheese products which contain printed images including Billy Roll and Billy Bear, which became popular characters in the company and pictures of their meats became known on social media due to their potential unsettling nature. Custom images and special products can also be requested by customers.[1]
| Founded | 1960s |
|---|---|
| Headquarters |
|
Key people | Mike Hamill |
History
editThey were founded in the 1960s by Bernhard Feldhues who created the machinery. They opened in Metelen in 1978.[2] Billy Roll was introduced in 1986 at IFFA in Frankfurt and Billy Bear was released afterwards.[3][4] Happy Tractor and Happy Fox were introduced in 2017.[5][1] Their products are created at their Monaghan branch in Ireland.[6][7]
In 2005, Dublin-based company, Greencore sold the company and its Irish branch to Dutch private investment group ON Nederland BV.[8][9][10] The machinery the company uses was later auctioned.[11]
Pictures of their products became popular online, especially on the social networking site Reddit. They are referred to as "face meats” and Billy Roll was dubbed "ham clown" and “meat clown".[3][12]
External links
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Blazenhoff, Rusty (2023-03-13). "Novelty meat logs, you know, for kids". Boing Boing. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ "THE FELDHUES GROUP". www.feldhues-group.de. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ a b "Uncasing the Mystery of the Cursed Viral 'Meat Clown'". MEL Magazine. 2020-11-18. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
- ^ "OUR EXPERIENCE". www.feldhues-group.de. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ Scott, Ellen (2017-06-29). "Important: The maker of Billy Bear ham also makes 'happy tractor' ham". Metro. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
- ^ "What is a Billy Roll?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
- ^ Bamford2014-07-24T16:07:00+01:00, Vince. "Billy Bear launches into cheese slices". The Grocer. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Food group to take €40m hit". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ Clerkin, David (2005-10-06). "Greencore writes off pizza business". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ Smith, Laura (2005-10-05). "Irish group spends £11m on sandwiches". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-25.
- ^ maria (2018-07-03). "Bidding on machinery for the fish, vegetable and meat processing industry". MSP Magazine. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
- ^ Sergeant, Emily (2021-10-28). "Americans are confused by British 'face meats' and it's hilarious". The Manc. Retrieved 2023-04-24.