Jacob's

Jacob'sis an Irishbrand namefor several lines ofbiscuitsandcrackersinIrelandand theUnited Kingdom. The brand name is owned by theJacob Fruitfield Food Group, part ofValeo Foods, which produces snacks for the Irish market. The brand name is used under licence byUnited Biscuits, part ofPladisand byMondelez Internationalin 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. In 1852, it moved to Bishop Street inDublin, Ireland, with a factory in Peter's Row.Jacob's Bishop Street premises was one of several prominent Dublin buildings occupied by rebels during theEaster Risingof 1916.
Jacob's first English factory was opened in 1914 inAintree,Liverpool, and remains the primary producer of Jacob's products in the UK, includingCream Crackersand Twiglets.
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 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 ofTallaghtin 1973.The Liverpool factory joined Associated Biscuits in 1960, which was purchased byNabiscoin 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 companyGroupe 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 acquiringIrelandportion.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.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.
With the acquisition of GroupeDanone'sbiscuit division byKraft Foodsin 2007, the production and sales of Jacob's biscuits inMalaysiais undertaken byMondelezMalaysia.
As of 2015, the Aintree factory produced over 55,000 tonnes of products each year,and as of 2022 4,000 tonnes of crackers are produced annually at the factory.In 2015, it received a £10 million investment from United Biscuits to further boost output.
The activist andtrade unionorganiserRosie Hackettworked 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 alreadyon 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 theIrish Women Worker's Union(IWWU) withDelia Larkin. During the1913 LockoutHackett 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.
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.
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 theGMBunion.
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 featuringFrank Kelly,Maureen Potterfeatured 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 forTelaxbar 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 aChildren of Lircartoon featured Irish history. In 1996 a cake featured Jacob's "The Chocolate Biscuit", "Somekind Of Wonderfull" in the late 2000s.