Jacob's

Jacob's is an Irish brand of biscuits and crackers primarily sold in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Jacob's is owned in the Irish market by Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, part of Valeo Foods; in the UK market by United Biscuits, part of Pladis; and in the Asian market by Mondelēz International.

History

Jacob's originated in the mid-nineteenth century as a small bread and sea-biscuit bakery run by William Beale Jacob in Waterford, Ireland. William's brother Robert joined the business in 1851, forming the partnership of W. & R. Jacob. In 1852, the brothers acquired new premises at Peter's Row in Dublin, Ireland, and in 1853 opened the W. & R. Jacob's Steam Biscuit Factory.[1] The Dublin factory was one of several prominent buildings occupied by rebels during the Easter Rising in 1916.[2] Jacob's first English factory opened in 1914 in Aintree, Liverpool, and remains the primary UK producer of Jacob's products including Cream Crackers and Twiglets.[3] In 1922, a separate English company was formed and the Dublin and Liverpool branches separated. After the separation, the Dublin branch retained the name W. & R. Jacob while the Liverpool branch became known as Jacob's Bakery Ltd.[4]

From the 1960s to the early 2000s, both bakeries underwent a series of mergers.

Products

Advertising

From the mid-1970s, Jacob's ran a number of notable advertisements with recognisable hooks, jingles, and tag-lines. On Irish television, one popular phrase was "How To Get The Fig Into The Fig Rolls." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Frank Kelly and Maureen Potter featured in a series of adverts; in one of these, a German professor (Kelly) visits South America where a disagreement ensues over the pronunciation of "Jacob's." Around 1975, another advert encouraged taking a break with Club Milk: as the jingle ran, Club Milk is "best after all." In the mid-1980s, an advert for Telax bars made use of a space science theme, while in the late 1980s and early '90s Jacob's aired a popular series of adverts with the tag-line "Take The Biscuit." In 1992, the Chocolate Collection was advertised with a jingle stating that "It's The Same Chocolate With A Different Biscuit Under It." Around the same time, Camelot biscuits were advertised with a Children of Lir themed cartoon. In the late 2000s, "Some kind Of Wonderful" became a common tag-line in Jacob's adverts.

See also

• Jacob's Awards

Further reading

• National Archives of Ireland article "Jacob's Biscuit Factory, 1916"

External links

• Official website (United Kingdom)