Fox's Biscuits
Fox's Biscuits is a British biscuit manufacturer, founded by the Fox family in a terrace house, 17 Whitaker Street, Batley in West Yorkshire in 1853. The head office and main factory are still based in the town with two further sites at Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, and at Kirkham in Lancashire. Its biscuits are also exported to Europe, North America, Australia and Asia. The house in Whittaker Street still stands. The company was purchased by Northern Foods in 1977,[1] which was acquired by 2 Sisters Food Group in 2011.
 | |
| Genre | Bakers |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Whitaker Street, Batley, West Yorkshire |
Number of locations | Batley, West Yorkshire, Kirkham, Lancashire and Uttoxeter, Staffordshire |
| Products | Biscuits |
| Parent | 2 Sisters Food Group |
| Website | www |
The business is known for mass-market biscuits and chocolate-covered biscuit bars such as Rocky, Classic, Echo, Crunch Creams and children's favourite Party Rings. They are also known for their Sports Biscuits (invented by David Glen in 1971). The company also makes Own Brand biscuit products for a number of supermarkets and makes Farley’s Rusks for Heinz.
The Production Director for a number of years was James Montgomerie, father of golfer Colin Montgomerie.[2]
History
The company was founded in 1853 by Michael Spedding, who worked from his small bakehouse in Batley making "eatables" to sell at feasts and fairs held throughout the north of England. His daughter Hannah provided the name for the company, after she married Fred Ellis Fox in the late 1800s.[3]
The bakery moved to former wartime allotments in Batley in 1927. In 1960 it became a limited company and was named Fox's Biscuits. The Uttoxeter site previously operated as Elkes Biscuits, before merging with the other sites in 2003. In September 2013, the Yorkshire Society unveiled a White Rose plaque at the site of the first bakery on Whitaker Street: the first time that the Society presented a plaque to commemorate the formation of a business.[3]
Vinnie
On 28 May 2008, Fox's Biscuits launched a TV ad campaign and £5 million marketing campaign[4] centred on "Vinnie", a "danda", cross between a dog and a panda, meant to be Fox's "number one fan" who had travelled across the Atlantic to make sure everybody knew who makes his favourite biscuits (which he mispronounces with a "w" instead of a "u"). The idea of Vinnie was developed with the animation team behind Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia.
Biscuit products
The company website contains nutritional and allergy information as well as descriptions of each product. The biscuits currently manufactured by Fox's are:
- Rocky (Chocolate, Caramel, Orange[Limited Edition], Crispy Crunch)
- Rocky Chockas (Double Choc, Toffee, Honeycomb)
- Rocky Rocks (Chocolate or Crispy Crunch)
- Echo (Mint, Orange, Chocolate)
- Classic
- Cookie Bars
- Triple
- Viennese (Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate)
- Millionaire's Shortcake
- Shortcake Rounds
- Extremely Chocolatey Cookie
- Chunk Cookie (Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate)
- Crunch Creams (Ginger, Golden, Chocolate Fudge, Classic, Double Choc)
- Creams (Rich Tea, Jam Ring, Malted Milk, Nice, Classic)
- Crinkles (Butter, Ginger, Coconut, Milk Chocolate)
- Dunkers (Oaty, Shortcake)
- Sports
- Party Rings
- Minis (Buttery and Oaty)
- Bourbon biscuit
- Creations
- Speciality
- Speciality Brandy Snaps
- Favourites
- Luxury Chocolate Carton
- Wholemeal Cracker (Original, Tomato & Red Pepper, Cheese & Onion and Sunflower Seed & Honey)
See also
References
- "Our history". Northern Foods. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
- The Scotsman Archived 16 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- "Crumbs! 160 years of Yorkshire biscuits". Yorkshire Post. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
- Sweney, Mark (28 May 2008). "Fox's biscuits launches ad featuring New Jersey dog/panda hybrid". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.