Way back in 1959, when Harold McMillan was Prime Minister, and sweets were less than 3p per quarter and milk was 2p a pint, a young man, Douglas Rae, a qualified banker with £100 in his pocket, set out on a business career when he formed, from scratch, a limited company to market confectionery. His family, his friends and his colleagues within banking circles thought that he had gone mad; they only thought it!!

Back in the 50's and earlier, young bankers, irrespective of their qualifications, were very poorly remunerated. Having married in 1957 and with a young son born in 1958 and another in October 1959. Douglas Rae concluded that he could no longer afford to give banking the benefit of his services for so very little in return so he took the decision to plunge into business on his own account!!

Having acquired the exclusive agency for Daintee Confectionery Co. work began in earnest. Good early progress was made and shortly thereafter further agencies were acquired. Within 5 years three full-time sales staff had been engaged so that full coverage of Scotland could be offered to companies seeking an exclusive distributor for Scotland.

In 1965 Golden Casket acquired the exclusive distribution rights for Scotland for the famous Kunzle cakes. In the year previous the turnover for Kunzle cakes was only £10,000 per year but within 18 months of acquiring the agency Golden Casket had increased the turnover to over £200K. Growth continued and by 1968 Douglas Rae had 12 van salesmen operating in Central Scotland with over £400K of Kunzle cakes being sold. The year 1969 saw Charles Forte acquire the Kunzle company which virtually signalled the end for the successful Golden Casket/Kunzle arrangement. Although Golden Casket had a contract with Kunzle, Forte on acquiring the Kunzle business, quite naturally wanted the profitable Central Scotland operation. In exchange for Forte taking over the Kunzle sales from G.C., Golden Casket were given the Scottish agency for the famous English manufacturing company. Fuller's was a sister company of Terry's of York which was another Forte holding company. Although initially Golden Casket suffered badly through the loss of the Kunzle agency it was not too long before the sales were built up again with the ever increasing sales demand for Fullers cakes and sweets.

GIBBSIn 1971 circumstances forced the Company into making a very important and significant decision. Terry's announced that their sister company, Fullers, was about to be sold. A large American company, who were keen to get their own manufactured products into the U.K. market through Fullers 6,000 accounts, were negotiating to acquire the Company from Terry's. On hearing this news Douglas Rae immediately headed for York to talk with the Terry's board. To lose yet another exclusive agency after so much work and input was too much to ponder. During the York visit a remarkable deal was struck between Terry's and Douglas Rae which enabled Golden Casket to acquire Fullers. This would not have been possible but for the excellent support and goodwill of the Terry's Chairman and Managing Director, Ian Johnston, as without his support and co-operation agreement would not have been reached. The consequence of the agreement to purchase Fullers meant that Golden Casket effectively became a manufacturer of confectionery as well as being confectionery marketing specialists from that very day.