Our Company

• Our Company

  The company behind Primula is called Kavli, which has a long history and a strong heritage of producing high quality, wholesome foods for all the family.

  Kavli is different to most other businesses because its sole purpose is to generate funds which can be used to support good causes...

• Kavli UK

  Kavli is part of the Kavli Group, which also has commercial operations in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

  The whole group is owned by The Kavli Trust, a charitable organisation, which uses profits from the commercial operations to support a variety of good causes both locally and worldwide, including research, cultural activities and humanitarian work.

  We have two sites in the UK, one in Gateshead which makes Primula cheese spreads and dips and we also own Castle MacLellan Foods, based in Kirkcudbright, South West Scotland which makes fine Scottish pates.

• History

  Olav Kavli was born in 1872 and grew up on a farm outside the port of Molde, Norway.

  In 1893, at the age of 21, he realised his dream and started a business buying and selling cheeses.

  Olav Kavli was both a knowledgeable merchant and a good salesman and he quickly expanded both his range of cheeses and his trading area. Packing a suitcase with cheese, he travelled the world and developed valuable trading links in many markets.

  A creative and innovative entrepreneur, he invented Primula Cheese in 1924 - the world's first spreadable cheese with a long shelf life and named it after the first flowers of spring. Primula cheese was first sold in the UK in 1929.

  Working with his son, Knut, they expanded the Kavli business and began to open factories in their key export markets.

  Kavli Limited was established in the UK in 1936, just outside Newcastle Upon-Tyne.

• Kavli Trust

  Like his father, Knut Kavli had a strong social conscience and was keen to ensure that the group continued with a long-term and socially committed owner. So in 1962 he established a charitable organisation, the Kavli Trust, as sole shareholder and owner of the Kavli group.

  The trust's statutes specify that profits from Kavli are to be donated to research, cultural and humanitarian activities.
  
  To find out more about the Kavli Trust Click Here