Ceylon Biscuits Limited (branded CBL, commonly called Munchee) is a Sri Lankan food manufacturer, the maker of Munchee biscuits and one of the oldest biscuit makers in Sri Lanka. The company owns 60% of the domestic market share in Sri Lanka.[2][3]
CBL's biscuits factory (on the left) is situated next to the intersection of Southern Expressway
In the 1930s Simon Arthur Wickramasingha (1902-1961) acquired a small factory that produced handmade biscuits from a local businessman called Williams. In 1939 the company Williams Confectionery Limited was formally established in Dehiwela with ten employees. In 1957 the factory was upgraded and mechanised, with Baker Perkins manufacturing lines imported from the UK. Wickramasingha's four sons, N. P. (Pali), R. L. (Ranjith), M. P. (Mineka), and R. S. (Ramya), took over the business when their father died in 1961.[4]
In the 1960s the Ministry of Education, with the assistance of the US based organisation CARE, provided school children with a cup of milk and a bun as nutritional supplements to their midday meal. However, due to the inability to maintain the quality of the bun, CARE began assessing alternatives, eventually settling on biscuits. Mineka Wickramasingha successfully obtained the contract.[4]
As the existing factory in Dehiwala was restricted in its capacity the company in July 1968 opened a new biscuit factory at Pannipitiya to produce the high-protein biscuit for CARE. The factory was operated by Ceylon Biscuits Limited, a newly created subsidiary of Williams (Williams owned 30%, the Wickramasingha family 30%, E. B. Creasy (an English trading company) 30%, the workers 5% and other shareholders 5%). CBL imported two biscuit manufacturing lines from Germany, one for the nutritional biscuit and the other for consumer biscuit production. CBL's involvement with the school biscuit programme continued until 1988, when the programme was terminated. With the introduction of the second plant CBL introduced a range of biscuits to the market under the brand name Munchee. These included two of its own innovations, Hawaiian Cookies and Milk Short Cake, together with generic biscuits nice, ginger and date biscuits.[5]
In the early 1980s the company imported a third (hard dough) manufacturing line. In 1981 they entered into a partnership arrangement with Associated Biscuits (AB), with AB purchasing E.B. Creasy's 30% equity in the company. As a result of this partnership and the new manufacturing line CBL was able to produce Huntley & Palmers' cream crackers and wafers, together with its own line of cream crackers and wafers. The company then purchased a second hard dough manufacturing line from AB. In 1982 Nabisco acquired Associated Biscuits, which maintained its ongoing relationship with CBL. Through Nabisco CBL was able to purchase another soft dough biscuit line, which it used to produce a new line of cream biscuits. The relationship ended when Nabisco sold its shares in CBL to a Hong Kong-based investor.
In 1991 the company expanded into chocolate production, under the brand Ritzbury, importing a chocolate machine for individual chocolates and an enrobing plant to make chocolate coated biscuits and wafers. The chocolate production business was further expanded to include chocolate fingers following the acquisition of the Maharaja Organization's Baker's Man biscuit factory in the mid-1990s.
In 1997 CBL commenced regular exports to the United States, Canada, Australia and India and by 2000 it was also exporting its products to the UK, Sweden, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Fiji and the Maldives.[6] The company also purchased the Indian business Parry's Confectionary, based in Pondicherry, establishing a 100% owned subsidiary, Ritzbury India (RI). RI commenced production of the Munchee and Ritzbury brands.[3][7]
In September 2000 CBL took a 79% controlling share in Soy Foods (Lanka) Limited and their brand Lanka Soy, which, despite being the pioneer in the local soy products market, only had a 15% market share.[8]
In 2002 the company established CBL Foods International (CBL Foods) in nearby Rannala. CBL Foods enabled the company to establish a bakery line, producing cakes under the brand Tiara. The new factory commenced operations in 2004. CBL also shifted its chocolate manufacturing to the new plant.[9][10]
Facing detrimental tariffs and poor distribution arrangements CBL dissolved Ritzbury India in 2003 and sold the manufacturing plant. However, in July 2004 CBL purchased Bakemans, based in Patiala, once the third largest biscuit manufacturer in India, with a 13% market share.[7]
In 2004 CBL acquired a 60% stake in Cecil Food (Pvt) Limited, an organic manufacturer of dehydrated fruit products, fruit juices, desiccated coconut and cashews. In the same year CBL entered into an arrangement with Italian confectionery Ferrero SpA, to manufacture and distribute Ferrero products (such as Nutella, Tic Tac, Ferrero Rocher and Mon Chéri) in the region.
In 2014, CBL introduced their own supermarket chain Star United. As of 2014, there were 30 franchised supermarkets within the country.[11]
In 2017 the company acquired a franchise license to operate the Spar brand in Sri Lanka as Spar Lanka. This is a joint venture between Ceylon Biscuits Limited and SPAR Group Ltd South Africa.[12] They opened the first supermarket in Thalawathugoda, Colombo. The future plan is to open 50 outlets in the country by 2023.[13]
At present this is one of the leading biscuit, chocolate and confectionery manufacturers and marketers in Asia.[10]
Competition
Ritzbury originally started in 1991 as number four in Sri Lanka's chocolate market. By 2006 it had beaten Kandos (Ceylon Chocolates) to the number two spot, with a 21% market share[8] (although still behind, market leader, Edna Group's 42% share). In 2010 it had become Sri Lanka's number one chocolate producer,[14] with a 47.2% market share.[15] By 2013 its total share of the market had grown to 55%.[16]
When CBL purchased Lanka Soy it had only a 15% market share; by 2002 it had reached 25% and by 2003 it was 30% and the market leader.
Awards
The company has received many awards locally and internationally.[3][7][17]
Raffaello is a spherical coconut–almond truffle that Italian manufacturer Ferrero brought to the market in 1990. It consists of a spherical wafer which is filled with a white milk cream and white blanched almonds. It is then surrounded by a coconut layer. It does contain lactose, making Raffaello incompatible for consumers with lactose intolerance.
Oreo is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two cocoa biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet fondant filling. It was introduced by Nabisco on March 6, 1912, and through a series of corporate acquisitions, mergers, and splits, both Nabisco and the Oreo brand have been owned by Mondelez International since 2012. Oreo cookies are available in over one hundred countries. Many varieties of Oreo cookies have been produced, and limited-edition runs have become popular in the 21st century.
Nabisco is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
Ferrero International SpA, more commonly known as Ferrero Group or simply Ferrero, is an Italian multinational company with headquarters in Alba. Ferrero is a manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second biggest chocolate producer and confectionery company in the world. Ferrero SpA is a private company owned by the Ferrero family and has been described as "one of the world's most secretive firms".
Butterfinger is a candy bar manufactured by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero. It is manufactured internationally by Nestlé. It consists of a layered crisp peanut butter core covered in a "chocolatey" coating. It was invented by Otto Schnering of the Curtiss Candy Company in 1923. A popularity contest chose the name.
SPAR, originally "DESPAR", styled as "DE SPAR", is a Dutch multinational franchise that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well.
Wonka was a confectionery brand owned and licensed by the Swiss corporation Nestlé. In 2018, the branding and production rights were sold to the Ferrero Group.
Chocolate-covered raisins are a candy consisting of individual raisins coated in a shell of milk, dark or white chocolate.
Fox's Biscuits is an English biscuit manufacturer, founded by the Fox family in Batley, West Yorkshire, in 1853 and currently a subsidiary of Ferrero. The head office and main factory are based in the town, and the company has another site in Wesham in Lancashire. Its biscuits are exported to Europe, North America and Asia.
Kinder Happy Hippo is a biscuit/candy made by the Italian chocolate and confectionery company Ferrero.
Kinder Bueno is a chocolate biscuit and wafer confection made by Italian confectionery maker Ferrero. Part of the Kinder Chocolate brand line, Kinder Bueno is a hazelnut-cream-filled wafer covered in milk chocolate and a dark chocolate drizzle.
Blue Riband is a chocolate biscuit currently produced by Nestlé. The bar was launched in 1936 by Gray Dunn, one of Scotland's major biscuit producers and a subsidiary of confectionery giant Rowntree's, as a real milk chocolate wafer – a crisp wafer biscuit covered in a very thin layer of milk chocolate. They also produced a similar, non coated, wafer called Caramel Wafer. The Gray Dunn factory also made Breakaway. The Gray Dunn factory in Glasgow continued to produce Blue Riband until 1994 when Nestlé closed it down and moved production to Newcastle.
The Griffin's Foods Company is a New Zealand food company currently headquartered in Auckland and established by John Griffin as a flour and cocoa mill in the city of Nelson in 1864. The company started biscuit manufacturing in 1890. Products commercialised by Griffin's include cookies, chocolate confection, crackers, cereal bars, and snack food.
Cargills (Ceylon) PLC is a Sri Lankan consumer company which is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is a market leader in the Modern Retail (supermarkets), FMCG, and Restaurants industries and also has a presence in the Banking, Real Estate, and Cinema sectors. The controlling interest in the company is held by C T Holdings PLC.
Maliban Biscuit Manufactories, is one of the largest manufacturers, distributors and marketers of bakery products in Sri Lanka. Maliban is a privately owned limited liability company.
Yıldız Holding is a Turkish conglomerate that is best known for manufacturing food products. The company also produces other consumer goods and has its own retail, private equity and real estate operations.
Crunch is a chocolate bar made of milk chocolate and crisped rice first introduced in 1938. It is produced globally by Nestlé with the exception of the United States, where it is produced under license by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero.
Kinder Joy is a candy made by Italian confectionery company Ferrero as part of its Kinder brand of products. It has plastic egg-shaped packaging that splits into two; one half contains layers of cocoa and milk cream topped with two wafer balls, and the other half contains a toy and a spoon on top of the wrapper. Kinder Joy was first launched in Italy in 2001 and as of 2018 was sold in 170 countries.
CBL Munchee Bangladesh is a flagship biscuit brand of Ceylon Biscuits Limited (CBL) in Bangladesh. CBL, the mother company with 50 years of experience and is present in 64 countries, entered Bangladesh in 2014 by setting up a factory in Sreepur Upazila, Gazipur, 35 kilometres (22 mi) from Dhaka as the first Sri Lankan owned confectionery manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, and the first Sri Lankan owned confectionery manufacturing plant overseas. The plant was set up as it was cheaper to manufacture in Bangladesh than exporting large volumes there due to high duties on confectionery imports. With the plant CBL planned to export Munchee to Nepal and Bhutan, and eventually to Europe and Persian Gulf countries from the Bangladesh plant as Bangladesh had significant concessions on its exports.
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Rs. 1.996 billion (2018) [1] 
Rs. 1.364 billion (2018) [1] 
