Griffin's Foods

Last updated

The Griffin's Food Company
Formerly
  • Griffin & Sons, Ltd. (1895–?) [1]
Company type
Founded1864;160 years ago (1864) [1] [2]
FounderJohn Griffin
FateAcquired by Nabisco in 1962
Headquarters
Auckland
,
New Zealand
Products Cookies, chocolate confection, crackers, cereal bars, snacks
Brands
Number of employees
800 (2014 [3] )
Parent
List
Website griffinsfoodcompany.com

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. [1] The company started biscuit manufacturing in 1890. [1] Products commercialised by Griffin's include cookies, chocolate confection, crackers, cereal bars, and snack food.

Contents

Since 1962, Griffin's has been owned by several companies including Nabisco, Danone, Pacific Equity Partners and Universal Robina. As of 2021, it has been wholly-owned by Intersnack. Griffin's had sales of approximately NZ$300 million in 2011. [4]

History

John Griffin, founder John griffin.jpg
John Griffin, founder

The company was founded by English John Griffin (1813–1893) [5] in Nelson, New Zealand in 1869 [6] as a flour and cocoa miller in 1864. Griffin had arrived in Nelson in 1854, commencing business in a bakery shop one year later. After it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1855, Griffin moved to Christchurch, then returning to Nelson a few years later when conditions improved. [5]

Newspaper records show biscuits were in production by the 1880s and the confectionery arm of the business launched in 1886. By the 1890s Griffins were producing a range of candied peels and by the late 1900s drinking cocoa. Main produce was distributed via the Griffins manufacturing plant on Ashmole Street in Christchurch.

Griffin's factory in Nelson, c. 1905 Griffin factory 1905.jpg
Griffin's factory in Nelson, c. 1905

After Griffin died in 1893, his sons J.H. and G.R. Griffin carried out the family business. When in February 1895 a huge fire caused a new disaster, they formed a public company with a capital of £5,172. In search of further capital to expand the business, in 1897 a chocolate factory was acquired. [5] Griffin's expanded, making army ration biscuits during World War II, [6] those where the times of the biscuit industry as a provider of goods for war purposes that helped it become larger than any other industry in New Zealand. [5]

Griffin's opened a new factory in Lower Hutt in 1938, [1] transferring its entire biscuit manufacturing operation there and leaving the Nelson factory entirely to confectionery manufacture. [5] In 1959, Griffin acquired the Southern Cross Biscuit Factory, a rival company owned by the Dustin family. [1]

In 1962, Griffin was purchased by Nabisco. [1] [7] Griffin bought confectionery manufacturer Sweetacres in 1971. The company also added British Huntley & Palmers' crackers to its brand portfolio, and two years later Griffin acquired "Eta Foods" including its range of snacks and potato chips brands. [1] The Nelson factory was closed by Nabisco in 1988, with the loss of 137 jobs, most of them women's. The former factory was then demolished. [2] In 1989 Griffin's acquired biscuit company Hudsons, taking on the copyright for the famous Hudson's icon Cookie Bear. When Nabisco was effectively broken up, Griffin's was acquired by Britannia Foods in 1990, [1] but in December of the same year Danone bought it from Britannia Foods. [8]

In 2006 Danone divested Griffin's to Pacific Equity Partners. [9] One year later, Griffin's acquired the "Nice & Natural Wrapped Snacks" company to become the leader snack food manufacturer in New Zealand. [1]

The Lower Hutt plant closed in 2008 with the loss of 200 jobs, [10] with all production transferred to the Auckland sites. In 2009 Griffin's moved the production of its cream filled biscuits, which account for 2.5% of production, to Fiji. [11]

In July 2014, Pacific Equity Partners divested of Griffin's Foods, selling the operations to Philippine company Universal Robina for NZ$700 million. [12] [3] In October 2015, Universal Robina announced they were expanding the Griffin's brand to the Southeast Asian market starting with the Philippines.

In December 2019, Universal Robina and German company Intersnack formed Unisnack ANZ, a joint venture comprising Griffin's and Snack Brands Australia. Intersnack held a 40% stake in the consolidated business. [13] [14] In August 2021, Universal Robina exited the Australian and New Zealand market by selling its remaining 60% stake in Unisnack ANZ to Intersnack. [15]

Products

The company's food range comprises:

BrandProducts
Griffin's Cookies, chocolate confection, crackers, muesli bars
Eta Potato chips, nachos, cheese puffs
Nice & NaturalMuesli bars, protein bars [16]
Huntley & Palmers [note 1] Crackers
KettlePotato chips

Biscuits

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Under license
  2. ↑ A joint venture between Universal Robina and Intersnack
  3. ↑ Part of JG Summit Holdings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadbury</span> British multinational confectionery company

Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. Cadbury is internationally headquartered in Greater London, and operates in more than 50 countries worldwide. It is known for its Dairy Milk chocolate, the Creme Egg and Roses selection box, and many other confectionery products. One of the best-known British brands, in 2013 The Daily Telegraph named Cadbury among Britain's most successful exports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nabisco</span> American snack company

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferrero SpA</span> Italian multinational food corporation

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".

United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In November 2014, the company was acquired by Yıldız Holding and is now part of Pladis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunshine Biscuits</span> Defunct American snack company

Sunshine Biscuits, formerly known as The Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, was an independent American baker of cookies, crackers, and cereals. The company, which became a brand on a few products such as Cheez-It, was purchased by Keebler Company in 1996, which was purchased by Kellogg Company in 2001. Around then, Sunshine Biscuits was headquartered in Elmhurst, Illinois, where Keebler was located until 2001.

Snackbrands (SBA) is one of the largest suppliers of snack foods in Australia and acts as the main competitor to the long established The Smith's Snackfood Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Britannia Industries</span> Indian food and beverage company

Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian multinational food products company, which sells biscuits, breads and dairy products. Founded in 1892, it is one of India's oldest existing companies and currently part of the Wadia Group headed by Nusli Wadia. As of 2023, about 80% of its revenues came from biscuit products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraft Foods Inc.</span> Defunct American food and beverage company

Kraft Foods Inc. was a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. Twelve of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, and Tang. Forty of its brands were at least a century old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Robina Corporation</span> Philippine food and beverage company

Universal Robina Corporation, abbreviated as URC and also known as Universal Robina, is a Philippine company headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the Philippines, along with San Miguel Corporation, Monde Nissin, Mondelez Philippines and Nestlé Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnott's Group</span> Australian snack food manufacturer

Arnott's Group is an Australian producer of biscuits and snack food. Founded in 1865 by William Arnott, they are the largest producer of biscuits in Australia and a subsidiary of KKR.

Peek Freans is the name of a biscuit-making company based in Bermondsey, London, England which is now a global brand of biscuits and related confectionery owned by various food businesses. De Beauvoir Biscuit Company owns but does not market in the United Kingdom, Europe and United States

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JG Summit Holdings</span> Filipino conglomerate

JG Summit Holdings, Inc. (JGSHI) is one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines with business interests in air transportation, banking, food manufacturing, hotels, petrochemicals, power generation, publishing, real estate and property development, and telecommunications. Key subsidiaries include Universal Robina and Cebu Pacific. Incorporated in November 1990, JG Summit Holdings was founded by John Gokongwei Jr., one of the wealthiest individuals in Southeast Asia. In 2010, JGSHI was one of the ten most profitable companies on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Burton's Biscuit Company is a British biscuit manufacturer. It is recognised in the UK as the second-biggest supplier of biscuits. The company was formed by the merger of Burton's Gold Medal Biscuits and Horizon Biscuit Company in October 2000. It re-branded from Burton's Foods to Burton's Biscuit Company in November 2011. It employs over 2,200 people around the UK, in three main manufacturing facilities, Llantarnam, Edinburgh and Blackpool, a chocolate refinery in Moreton, and a central distribution hub in Liverpool. Its head office is in St Albans.

Cookie Time Ltd is a New Zealand company based in Christchurch, New Zealand which has been manufacturing snack foods since 1983.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chocolate:

Mondelez International, Inc., styled as Mondelēz International, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26.5 billion and operates in approximately 160 countries. It ranked No. 108 in the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersnack</span> German snack food company

Intersnack Group GmbH & Co. KG is a German snack food company that annually produces around 600,000 tonnes of snacks including potato chips, nuts, baked products and specialty snacks. The company made its first potato chips in 1968.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceylon Biscuits Limited</span> Sri Lankan food manufacturer

Ceylon Biscuits Limited 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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Celebrating 150 Years of Griffin’s, timeline on Scoop website
  2. 1 2 Griffin's Factory in Nelson on The Prow.org.nz
  3. 1 2 Biscuit maker Griffin's sold for $700m on Stuff NZ, 22 July 2014
  4. ↑ "Australia's PEP set to tap buyers for Griffin's Foods". Reuters. 22 September 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 JOURNAL OF THE NELSON AND MARLBOROUGH HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6, 1995
  6. 1 2 "About Griffin's | Griffin's". Archived from the original on 2 September 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  7. ↑ Company information [ permanent dead link ]
  8. ↑ "Big players call tune". The New Zealand Herald . 9 January 1999. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  9. ↑ "Pacific Equity buys Griffin's Foods". The Age. Melbourne. 1 April 2006.
  10. ↑ "200 jobs set to go as cookie factory crumbles". The New Zealand Herald . NZPA. 16 November 2007. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  11. ↑ Griffin's moves biscuits to Fiji
  12. ↑ Australasian food rush continues with PEP selling New Zealand firm to Philippines' Universal on Reuters, 21 July 2014
  13. ↑ "URC sells stake in snacks joint venture to partner Intersnack". BusinessWorld Online. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  14. ↑ Berry, Kim (17 July 2019). "Snack Brands Aust owner and Intersnack Group deal". Food & Drink Business. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  15. ↑ Burgos, Jonathan (2 August 2021). "Philippine Gokongwei Group Exits Australia, New Zealand Snack Foods Business". Forbes. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  16. ↑ Ward, Stephen (3 March 2007). "Griffins tipped to gobble up more". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 2 October 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.