Jacob's facts for kids
Jacob's is a brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in the Republic of 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.
Contents
History
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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. A factory in Aintree, Liverpool, was opened in 1914.
Jacob's Bishop Street premises was one of several prominent Dublin buildings occupied by rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916.
In 1922, a separate English company was formed, W. & R. Jacob (L'pool) Ltd. 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.
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. 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 the Republic of Ireland portion. 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.
Since their acquisitions, United Biscuits and Jacob Fruitfield Food Group have sparred in court over the use of the Jacob's brand name.
With the acquisition of Groupe Danone's biscuit division by Kraft Foods in 2007, the production and sales of Jacob's biscuits in Malaysia are done through Mondelez Malaysia.
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.
Products
Toppable crackers
- Cream Crackers
- Biscuits For Cheese
- Savoury Favourites
- Flatbreads
- Salt & Pepper
- Mixed Seeds
- Crispbreads
- Chive
- Mixed Seed
- Mixed Grain
- Ciabatta
- Sundried Tomato & Basil
- Original
- Krackawheat
- Choice Grain
- Sourdough
- Butter Puffs
- Cornish Wafers
- High Fibre
Snackable crackers
- Savours
- Salt and Pepper
- Sour Cream & Chive
- Cheese
- Sweet Chilli
- Cheddars
- Pickle
- Cheese
- Smoky BBQ
Mini Cheddars
- Mini Cheddars Original 6 Pack
- Mini Cheddars Red Leicester 6 Pack
- Mini Cheddars Smoky BBQ 6 Pack
- Mini Cheddars Nacho Cheese & Jalapeño
- Mini Cheddars Chipotle Chicken Wings
- Mini Cheddars Lime & Chilli
- Mini Cheddars Strathdon Blue Cheese
- Mini Cheddars Dragon's Breath Chilli Cheddar
- Mini Cheddars Ploughman's Cheshire Cheese
Mini Cheddars Sticks
- Rich & Tangy Cheddar
- Grilled Cheddar & Sizzling Steak
Cracker Crisps
- Salt & Vinegar
- Sour Cream & Chive
- Sour Cream & Chive Caddies
Crinklys
- Variety Pack (6 Pack including 2 × Cheese & Onion, 2 × Chilli Beef and 2 × Salt & Vinegar)
- Cheese & Onion 6 Pack
Twiglets
- Twiglets Multipack
- Twiglets Caddies
Cheeselets
- Cheeselets Caddies
- Cheeselets 125g
Industrial relations
The well-known 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.
Aintree factory
The Aintree site, which opened in 1914, was Jacob's first English factory, and remains the primary producer of Jacob's products in the UK, including Cream Crackers and Twiglets. The factory produces over 55,000 tonnes of products each year and, in 2015, received a £10 million investment from United Biscuits to further boost output.
