Jacob's is an Irish brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The brand name is owned by the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, part of Valeo Foods, which produces snacks for the Irish market. The brand name is used under licence by United Biscuits, part of Pladis and by Mondelez International in Asia (which acquired Groupe Danone's biscuit division and with it, the rights to Jacob's biscuit brand in Asia).
The originator of the Jacob's brand name was the small biscuit bakery, W. & R. Jacob, founded in 1851 in Bridge Street, Waterford, Ireland, by William Beale Jacob and his brother Robert. It later moved to Bishop Street in Dublin, Ireland, with a factory in Peter's Row. Jacob's Bishop Street premises was one of several prominent Dublin buildings occupied by rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916.
Jacob's first English factory was opened in 1914 in Aintree, Liverpool, and remains the primary producer of Jacob's products in the UK, including Cream Crackers and Twiglets. [1]
In 1922, a separate English company was formed, W. & R. Jacob (L'pool) Ltd. [2] The two branches separated, with the Dublin branch retaining the W. & R. Jacob name while the Liverpool branch was renamed Jacob's Bakery Ltd. In the 1970s, W. & R. Jacob in Dublin merged with Boland's Biscuits to form Irish Biscuits Ltd. and moved to Tallaght, a Dublin suburb. The Liverpool factory joined Associated Biscuits in 1960, which was purchased by Nabisco in 1982. [3]
In 1990, the two companies once again came under common ownership and became Jacob's Biscuit Group when they were acquired by the French company Groupe Danone. In July 2004, Groupe Danone and United Biscuits announced that they had made an agreement for the latter to acquire Jacob's Biscuit Group. [4] [5] However, only days later, Groupe Danone, United Biscuits, and Fruitfield Foods announced that Jacob's Biscuit Group would be split, with United Biscuits acquiring only the UK portion of the Group and Fruitfield Foods acquiring Ireland portion. [6] [7] [8] Fruitfield Foods was subsequently renamed the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group and is now part of the Valeo Food Group. Valeo Foods was established in September 2010 through the merger of Batchelors and Origin Foods. [9] In the meantime, Groupe Danone retained Jacob's brand ownership in Asia with manufacturing facility in Malaysia.
Since their acquisitions, United Biscuits and Jacob Fruitfield Food Group have been in a legal dispute over the use of the Jacob's brand name. [10] [11]
With the acquisition of Groupe Danone's biscuit division by Kraft Foods in 2007, the production and sales of Jacob's biscuits in Malaysia is undertaken by Mondelez Malaysia.
As of 2015, the Aintree factory produced over 55,000 tonnes of products each year, [12] and as of 2022 4,000 tonnes of crackers are produced annually at the factory. [13] In 2015, it received a £10 million investment from United Biscuits to further boost output. [14]
The activist and trade union organiser Rosie Hackett worked for some years as a messenger for Jacob's. At that time the working conditions in the factory were poor. On 22 August 1911 Hackett helped organise the withdrawal of women's labour in Jacob's factory to support their male colleagues who were already on strike. With the women's help, the men secured better working conditions and a pay rise. Two weeks later, at the age of eighteen, Hackett co-founded the Irish Women Worker's Union (IWWU) with Delia Larkin. During the 1913 Lockout Hackett helped mobilise the Jacob's workers to come out in solidarity with other workers, they in turn were locked out by their own employers. In 1914 her Jacob's employers sacked her over her role in the Lockout. [15]
In 2009, after 156 years of making biscuits in Ireland, Jacob Fruitfield shut its Tallaght plant. 220 jobs were lost while the company retained around 100 staff in a variety of roles. [16]
In November 2022, workers at the Aintree factory went on strike after pay negotiations with management since September of that year failed to reach an agreement, and the company temporarily shifted production to Portugal. Staff at the factory are supported in the ongoing strike by the GMB union. [13]
Twiglets are a wheat-based snack marketed in the United Kingdom that have a "distinctive knobbly shape" similar to that of twigs and a speckled-brown-over-pale-colour appearance. The taste of Twiglets, which has been compared to that of Marmite, primarily derives from the yeast extract used in the coating. Twiglets are packaged in 24 g, 45 g, 105 g, 150 g bags, and in 200 g cylindrical containers.
A cracker is a flat, dry baked biscuit typically made with flour. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritious and convenient way to consume a staple food or cereal grain.
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.
Ritz Crackers is a brand of snack cracker introduced by Nabisco in 1934. The original style crackers are disc-shaped, lightly salted, and approximately 46 millimetres (1.8 in) in diameter.. Each cracker has seven perforations and a finely scalloped edge. Today, the Ritz cracker brand is owned by Mondelēz International.
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.
Cheez-It is a brand of cheese cracker manufactured by Kellanova through its Sunshine Biscuits division. Approximately 26 by 24 millimetres, the rectangular crackers are made with wheat flour, vegetable oil, cheese, skim milk, salt, and spices.
Goldfish are a fish-shaped cracker with a small imprint of an eye and a smile manufactured by Pepperidge Farm, which is a division of the Campbell Soup Company. The brand's current marketing and product packaging incorporate this feature of the product: "The Snack That Smiles Back! Goldfish!", reinforced by Finn, the smiling goldfish mascot with sunglasses. The product is marketed as a "baked snack cracker" on the label with various flavors and varieties.
A cream cracker is a flat, usually square, savoury biscuit. The name "cream crackers" refers to the method in which the mixture is creamed during manufacture. The cream cracker is traditionally prepared using fermented dough.
Cheddars are a British brand of baked Cheddar cheese-flavoured savoury biscuits. They were originally manufactured and sold by Crawfords. Until 2014, Cheddars were marketed under the McVitie's brand, but are now marketed under the Jacob's brand. Mini Cheddars continue to be marketed under the McVitie's brand in Ireland. Cheddars are made using wheat flour, and include real cheese.
KP Snacks Limited is a British producer of branded and own-label maize-, potato-, and nut-based snacks, "Choc Dips" and nuts. The KP stands for “Kenyon Produce”. The company is based in Slough, England, UK.
Peek Freans is the name of a former biscuit-making company based in Bermondsey, London, 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 UK, Europe and USA; Mondelēz International owns the brand in Canada; and English Biscuit Manufacturers owns the brand in Pakistan.
TUC is a brand of salted octagonal golden-yellow crackers, comparable in taste to Ritz crackers. The TUC brand originated in Belgium, and belonged to French company LU. Nowadays, TUC crackers are owned by Mondelēz International, which markets the brand in mainland India, while Valeo Foods' Jacob Fruitfield Food Group produces TUC crackers for markets in Europe, Asia, North America, and North Africa. In Pakistan, TUC is manufactured and marketed by LU and by United Biscuits in the United Kingdom.
The Jacob Fruitfield Food Group is a company that once produced food products in Ireland, but is now mainly a brand for imported foods targeted at the Irish market. It was formed by Fruitfield Foods' acquisition of the Republic of Ireland portion of Jacob's Biscuit Group in 2004 from Groupe Danone. The CEO and part-owner is Michael Carey. Other major shareholders include Lioncourt with a 36% stake.
McCoy's is a brand of crinkle-cut crisps made in the United Kingdom by KP Snacks. It was first produced in 1985 and is marketed under the slogan "The Real McCoy's – Accept No Imitations", exploiting the Scottish idiom "the real McCoy". McCoy's is the third biggest brand in the bagged crisps market, with 5 million packets consumed each week and nearly a third of all UK households consuming the product. It was once promoted by United Biscuits "as the only overtly male-targeted crisp brand".
Dairylea is a popular brand of processed cheese products produced by Mondelēz International and available in Ireland and the United Kingdom. As of 2017, it is also available in Australia.
Boland's Bakery was the largest bakery in Dublin in the late 19th century. It was founded by the Boland family. The company sold a number of products such as bread, biscuits, cakes, confectionery and flour, although over the years biscuits became the company's main product. The original bakery was located close to Capel Street between Mary (Abbey) Street and Little Mary Street. The Boland family lived on Capel Street.
Club is a range of chocolate covered biscuits, sold in Ireland under the Jacob's brand name and in the United Kingdom under McVitie's.
Valeo Foods is an Irish multinational producer of branded food and beverage products. The company has a portfolio of over 50 international food brands which are sold across 90 countries globally, including Rowse Honey, Odlums, Batchelors, Jacob's, Dolciaria Balconi, and Kelkin. The business combines food production, brand development, distribution and sales.
The cheese cracker is a type of cracker prepared using cheese as a main ingredient. Additional common cracker ingredients are typically used, such as grain, flour, shortening, leavening, salt and various seasonings. The ingredients are formed into a dough, and the individual crackers are then prepared. Some cheese crackers are prepared using fermented dough. Cheese crackers are typically baked. Another method of preparing cheese crackers involves placing cheese atop warm crackers. Cheese crackers have been described as a "high-calorie snack", which is due to a higher fat content compared to other types of crackers.
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