View source for Jacob's

{{Short description|Irish biscuits and crackers manufacturer}}
{{other uses of|Jacobs}}
{{use dmy dates |date=July 2021}}
[[File:Jacob's trade mark 2404560.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Jacob's "1885" registered trademark used on several lines of biscuits]]
[[File:Jacob's cream crackers.jpg|thumb|Jacob's cream crackers]]
'''Jacob's''' is an Irish [[Brand|brand name]] for several lines of [[biscuit]]s and [[Cracker (food)|crackers]] in [[Republic of Ireland|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).

==History==
[[File:Jacob's biscuit factory (19137953022).jpg|thumbnail|left|View of the production floor, Jacob's Ireland factory, 1910]]
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.<ref name = 1996Tallaght/>{{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 cracker|Cream Crackers]] and Twiglets.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

In 1922, a separate English company was formed, W. & R. Jacob (L'pool) Ltd.<ref>
{{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
}}</ref>
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.<ref name = 1996Tallaght>{{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}}</ref>{{rp|19:15}} The Liverpool factory joined Associated Biscuits in 1960, which was purchased by [[Nabisco]] in 1982.<ref>
{{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
  }}
</ref>

[[File:Republic of Ireland visitors to Manchester peruse Irish products for sale at the shop in the Irish World Heritage Centre, Cheetham Hill.jpg|thumb|Irish visitors to Manchester peruse Irish products for sale, including Jacob's biscuits, at the Irish World Heritage Centre, [[Cheetham Hill]]]]
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.<ref>
{{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}}</ref><ref>
{{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
}}</ref> 
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 [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]] portion.<ref>
{{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 }}</ref><ref>
{{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
}}</ref><ref>{{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
  }}</ref>
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.<ref>
{{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
}}</ref> 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.<ref>
{{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
}}</ref><ref>
{{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
}}</ref>

With the acquisition of Groupe [[Danone|Danone's]] biscuit division by [[Kraft Foods]] in 2007, the production and sales of Jacob's biscuits in [[Malaysia]] is undertaken by [[Mondelez International|Mondelez]] Malaysia.

As of 2015, the Aintree factory produced over 55,000 tonnes of products each year,<ref>{{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}}</ref> and as of 2022 4,000 tonnes of crackers are produced annually at the factory.<ref name="permanent">{{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]]}}</ref> In 2015, it received a £10&nbsp;million investment from United Biscuits to further boost output.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

===Industrial relations===

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 [[strike action|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 Workers' Union|Irish Women Worker's Union]] (IWWU) with [[Delia Larkin]]. During the [[Dublin Lock-out|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.<ref name="ucd">{{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}}}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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 (trade union)|GMB]] union.<ref name="permanent"/>

==Products==
=== Toppable crackers ===
* [[Cream cracker]]s
* Biscuits For Cheese
*Savoury Favourites
* Flatbreads
** Salt & Pepper
** Mixed Seeds
* [[Crispbread]]s
** 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 ===
{{main|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

=== Bites ===
* Red Leicester
* Mature Cheddar & Caramelised Onion
* Smoked Paprika
* Sweet Chilli & Sour Cream

=== Crinklys ===
* Variety Pack (6 Pack including 2 × Cheese & Onion, 2 × Chilli Beef and 2 × Salt & Vinegar)
*Cheese & Onion 6 Pack

=== Twiglets ===
{{main|Twiglets}}
* Twiglets Multipack
* Twiglets Caddies

=== Cheeselets ===
* Cheeselets Caddies
* Cheeselets 125g

=== Mallow biscuits ===
[[File:Jacobs Mikado Biscuits.jpg|thumb|right]]
[[File:Jacobs Kimberley biscuits.jpg|thumb|right]]
* 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-[[enrober|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

=== Other biscuits ===
*[[Digestive biscuit|Digestive]]
*[[Fig roll|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 biscuit|Polo]]
*[[Rich Tea]]
*[[Shortbread]]
*[[Shortcake]]
*[[Goldgrain]]
*[[Crunchers]]
*[[Rings (biscuit)|Rings]]
*[[Ginger Nut]]
*[[Lincoln biscuit|Lincoln]]
*[[Marie biscuit|Marietta]]
*[[Windmill]] lasted for a short time in the early 1980s
*[[Lemon Puff]]
*[[Custard cream]]
*[[Bourbon biscuit|Bourbon]]
*[[Nice biscuit|Nice]]
*[[Wafer]] used for a [[ice cream]] sandwitch

=== Bars ===
*[[Club Milk]] have a Dark, Original, Orange, Mint, White Chocolate versions, as well as [[Wafer]] and Chunky versions
*[[Trio (chocolate bar)|Trio]]
*[[Busker]] (1984–1987)
*[[Telax]] sold during the late 1970s and most of the 1980s

==Advertising==
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.

==See also==
*[[Jacob's Awards]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==

{{refbegin}}

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

{{refend}}

==External links==
{{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]]