Jacob's

File:Jacob's biscuit factory (19137953022).jpg

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. In 1852, it moved to Bishop Street in Dublin, Ireland, with a factory in Peter's Row.{{rp|19:07}} 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.{{Cite news|url=http://www.unitedbiscuits.com/news/corporate-news/united-biscuits-celebrates-centenary-at-jacobs-aintree-factory/|title=United Biscuits celebrates centenary at Jacob's Aintree factory|work=United Biscuits|access-date=27 September 2018|language=en}}

In 1922, a separate English company was formed, W. & R. Jacob (L'pool) Ltd.

{{Cite web

|last = The History of Advertising Trust

|author-link = History of Advertising Trust

|title = 1958 Jacobs Club Biscuit (00_00_1958 HAT_20_01)

|date = 2011-06-10

|url = http://www.hatads.org.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=30355

|access-date = 2011-08-13

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110929075707/http://www.hatads.org.uk/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=30355

|archive-date = 2011-09-29

}}

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 1966, W. & R. Jacob in Dublin merged with Boland's Biscuits to form Irish Biscuits Ltd. and moved to a factory in the Dublin suburb of Tallaght in 1973.{{cite AV media | people=Kiley, Ray | date=1996-01-01 | title=Tallaght - A Living Town. South Dublin County Council: Tallaght Living Heritage Project | type=Video | location=Dublin | publisher=Tallaght Artsquad (South Dublin County Council) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYegMOpPdU&t=13s}}{{rp|19:15}} The Liverpool factory joined Associated Biscuits in 1960, which was purchased by Nabisco in 1982.

{{Cite web

| last = Liverpool Record Office

| author-link = Liverpool City Council

| title = W & R Jacob Ltd.; 1839-

| date = 2011-08-13

| url = http://archive.liverpool.gov.uk/dserve.exe?&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Persons&dsqSearch=Code=='DS225'&dsqCmd=Show.tcl

| access-date = 2011-08-13

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120509204613/http://archive.liverpool.gov.uk/dserve.exe

| archive-date = 2012-05-09

| url-status = dead

}}

File:Republic of Ireland visitors to Manchester peruse Irish products for sale at the shop in the Irish World Heritage Centre, Cheetham Hill.jpg]]

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.

{{cite press release|title=Groupe Danone Sells Biscuit Operations in the UK and Ireland|publisher=Groupe Danone|date=2004-07-23|url=http://www.danone.com/wps/portal/jump/DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.Archives.Commun?ref=CMS.DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.Archives.2004Trim3.23juillet2004|access-date=2007-10-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516221147/http://www.danone.com/wps/portal/jump/DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.Archives.Commun?ref=CMS.DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.Archives.2004Trim3.23juillet2004|archive-date=2006-05-16}}

{{cite press release

|title = UB to Acquire Jacob's

|publisher = United Biscuits

|date = 2004-07-23

|url = http://www.unitedbiscuits.co.uk/80256C1A0047922E/vWeb/pcACHS636G2L

|access-date = 2007-10-30

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080212160015/http://www.unitedbiscuits.co.uk/80256C1A0047922E/vWeb/pcACHS636G2L

|archive-date = 2008-02-12

}}

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.

{{cite press release

|title = Groupe Danone Has Just Finalized the Sale of its Biscuit Operations in the Republic of Ireland (W & R Jacob Ltd.) to Fruitfield Foods Ltd

|publisher = Groupe Danone

|date = 2004-08-03

|url = http://www.danone.com/wps/portal/jump/DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.Commun2004PressReleases?ref=CMS.DanoneCorporateIntl.Press.Archives.2004Trim3.3aout04

|access-date = 2007-10-30

}}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{cite press release

|title = Update on UB's Acquisition of Jacob's

|publisher = United Biscuits

|date = 2004-08-03

|url = http://www.unitedbiscuits.co.uk/80256C1A0047922E/vWeb/pcACHS63HL4W

|access-date = 2007-10-30

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080212160031/http://www.unitedbiscuits.co.uk/80256C1A0047922E/vWeb/pcACHS63HL4W

|archive-date = 2008-02-12

}}{{cite press release

| title = Fruitfield Foods Buys W&R Jacob

| publisher = Jacob Fruitfield Food Group

| date = 2004-08-03

| url = http://www.jacobfruitfield.com/news/news_detail.asp?id=20

| access-date = 2007-10-30

| archive-date = 12 February 2008

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080212133336/http://www.jacobfruitfield.com/news/news_detail.asp?id=20

| url-status = dead

}}

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.

{{cite web

|url = http://www.rte.ie/news/business/2010/0910/135449-origin/

|title = Origin Foods & Batchelors merge to form Valeo

|date = 2010-09-10

|publisher = RTÉ News

}} 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.

{{Cite web

| last = RTÉ News

| author-link = RTÉ News

| title = Legal Battle Over Fig Roll Packaging

| website = RTÉ.ie

| date = 2007-10-01

| url = http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1001/94163-jacobs/

| access-date = 2016-10-13

}}

{{Cite web

| last = RTÉ News

| author-link = RTÉ News

| title = McVitie's Ordered to Change All Packaging

| website = RTÉ.ie

| date = 2007-10-03

| url = http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1003/94275-jacob/

| access-date = 2016-10-13

}}

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,{{Cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/nostalgia/celebrate-national-biscuit-day-look-9355315|title=Celebrate National Biscuit Day with a look at Aintree's iconic Jacob's cracker factory|first=Jamie|last=Bowman|date=May 29, 2015|website=Liverpool Echo}} and as of 2022 4,000 tonnes of crackers are produced annually at the factory.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/14/staff-at-jacobs-cream-crackers-aintree-factory-go-on-permanent-strike|title=Staff at Jacob's Cream Crackers Aintree factory go on 'permanent strike'|date=14 November 2022|newspaper=The Guardian}} In 2015, it received a £10 million investment from United Biscuits to further boost output.{{Cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/business/jacobs-owner-united-biscuits-pledges-9878055|title=Jacobs' owner United Biscuits pledges to secure the future of its Aintree Cream Cracker factory|first=Bill|last=Gleeson|date=August 18, 2015|website=Liverpool Echo}}

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.{{cite news|work=The Irish Times|date=28 August 2013|page=14|title=A working class hero, and a woman to boot: A child of the Dublin tenements, Rosie Hackett put her life on the line for justice|id = {{ProQuest|1428199903}}}}

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.{{Cite web| url = http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0522/jacobs-business.html| title = Jacob's ends production after 156 years | website = RTÉ News | date = 2009-05-22 | access-date = 2009-08-06}}

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.

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File:Jacobs Mikado Biscuits.jpg

File:Jacobs Kimberley biscuits.jpg

• Mikado, featuring marshmallow, desiccated coconut and raspberry jam
• Kimberley, ginger flavour biscuits sandwiching a mallow center which has a coarse sugar crystal coating
• Elite, a chocolate-enrobed Mikado
• Coconut cream, biscuits with a Pink and White a mallow center and a desiccated coconut coating
• X's & O's, sold in phases during the 1970s and 1990s
• Camelot, square version of Mikado, sold during the late 1980s and early 1990s
• Chocolate Mallows

• Digestive
• Fig Rolls during the late 1980s there were Fruity Bites, Apple Rolls in the early to mid 1990s, Chocolate version of them in the mid-1990s or a bar version in the early 2000s
• Polo
• Rich Tea
• Shortbread
• Shortcake
• Goldgrain
• Crunchers
• Rings
• Ginger Nut
• Lincoln
• Marietta
• Windmill lasted for a short time in the early 1980s
• Lemon Puff
• Custard cream
• Bourbon
• Nice
• Wafer used for a ice cream sandwitch

• Club Milk have a Dark, Original, Orange, Mint, White Chocolate versions, as well as Wafer and Chunky versions
• Trio
• Busker (1984–1987)
• Telax sold during the late 1970s and most of the 1980s

On Irish television popular phrases were "How To Get The Fig Into The Fig Rolls", In circa 1975 An advertisement that starts with a series of people engaged in a variety of activities, while a jingle encourages taking a break with Club Milk as it's ‘best after all’. In the late 1970s and early 1980s A German professor visits South America to explain in a series of adverts for chocolate biscuits featuring Frank Kelly, Maureen Potter featured in an advert for them at the same time. The professor and the South Americans disagree over the pronunciation of ‘Jacob’s. In the mid 1980's for Telax bar a space science advert was used. In the late 1980's and early 1990's "Take The Biscuit" popular series of adverts, Chocolate Collection 1992 song called "It's The Same Chocolate With A Different Biscuit Under It", When Camelot biscuits existed in the late 1980s and early 1990s a Children of Lir cartoon featured Irish history. In 1996 a cake featured Jacob's "The Chocolate Biscuit", "Somekind Of Wonderfull" in the late 2000s.

• Jacob's Awards

{{Reflist|2}}

{{refbegin}}

• [http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/1916/index.html National Archives of Ireland article "Jacob's Biscuit Factory, 1916"]

{{refend}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{official website|http://www.jacobs.ie}}
• [http://www.jacobs.co.uk/ Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071108203409/http://www.jacobs.co.uk/ |date=8 November 2007 }} (United Kingdom)

{{United Biscuits}}

{{Yıldız Holding}}

{{Huntley & Palmers}}

Category:United Biscuits brands

Category:Mondelez International brands

Category:Brand name snack foods

Category:Bakeries of the Republic of Ireland

Category:Bakeries of Ireland

Category:Food and drink companies of Ireland