# McVitie's
**McVitie's** is a British biscuit brand, founded in Edinburgh as a family bakery and now best known for the Digestive, Hobnobs, Rich Tea and [Jaffa Cakes](https://www.edgepedia.org/jaffa-cakes). It is owned by pladis, the snacking group formed in 2016 when Turkey's Yıldız Holding brought together Ülker, Godiva and United Biscuits, and is sold in over 100 countries worldwide.[1](https://www.mcvitiesmalta.com/brand/) • [2](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/who-are-pladis/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origins | Provision shop opened in Edinburgh by apprentice baker Robert McVitie and his father William in 1839; other sources give 1830 or 1832[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [4](https://www.history.cccbr.org.uk/pdf/Chapter_15_Humour_Animals_and_Bells.pdf) • [2](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/who-are-pladis/) |
| Signature product | The Digestive, created in 1892 by Alexander Grant and named for its baking soda content, then believed to aid digestion[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [4](https://www.history.cccbr.org.uk/pdf/Chapter_15_Humour_Animals_and_Bells.pdf) |
| Royal commissions | Wedding cake of Queen Mary and King George V (1893); wedding cake of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten (1947), over 2.5 meters tall and 500 lbs[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [5](https://www.standard.co.uk/going-out/restaurants/mcvities-celebrates-100-years-6358137.html) |
| Corporate history | Merged with MacFarlane Lang in 1948 to form United Biscuits; part of pladis since 2016[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [1](https://www.mcvitiesmalta.com/brand/) |
| Scale | The London Harlesden factory produces 80 million biscuits a day; the brand holds about a quarter of the UK biscuit market[6](https://bakeryinfo.co.uk/finished-goods/pladis-to-feature-on-bbcs-inside-the-factory/623901.article) • [7](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/biscuits) |
| Range | Digestives, Chocolate Digestives, Hobnobs, Rich Tea, Jaffa Cakes, Penguin, Club, Ginger Nuts and others[8](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/explore-our-brands/mcvities/) |
## Origins
The business began as a provision shop in Edinburgh opened by the apprentice baker Robert McVitie and his father William. The popularity of Robert's baking led the pair to open several more stores within a few years.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) Sources differ on the founding year: the McVitie's Canada timeline gives 1839, a [Church of England](https://www.edgepedia.org/church-of-england) history places Robert McVitie's biscuit factory on Edinburgh's Rose Street in 1830, and pladis's own account says the first shop opened on Rose Street in 1832.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [4](https://www.history.cccbr.org.uk/pdf/Chapter_15_Humour_Animals_and_Bells.pdf) • [2](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/who-are-pladis/)
**Charles Price.** In 1875 Charles Edward Price joined the firm as a salesman and was so successful that he soon became a partner; the business took the name McVitie & Price in 1888, when rising demand also led to a larger factory in Edinburgh.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [9](https://www.hatads.org.uk/documents/About_HAT/Annual%20Reports/HAT_2020.pdf) Robert McVitie died in 1884, leaving the business to his son, Robert Junior, who invested in larger bakeries.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [9](https://www.hatads.org.uk/documents/About_HAT/Annual%20Reports/HAT_2020.pdf)
## The Digestive and the product range
The company's defining product appeared in 1892, when Alexander Grant, a young employee who later became managing director, created the Digestive. The name came from its high baking soda content, which was believed to aid digestion.[4](https://www.history.cccbr.org.uk/pdf/Chapter_15_Humour_Animals_and_Bells.pdf) The recipe still used today is credited to Grant, later Sir Alexander Grant de Forres.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) A handwritten book of the original recipe survives at the Harlesden factory, and its ingredients included substantial amounts of lard and butter.[5](https://www.standard.co.uk/going-out/restaurants/mcvities-celebrates-100-years-6358137.html)
Chocolate followed in 1925, when experimentation produced McVitie's Chocolate Digestives.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) Hobnobs, an oaty biscuit with a golden syrup flavor, launched in 1985, and a chocolate version followed in 1987 after high demand.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) The current range also includes Rich Tea, Jaffa Cakes, Penguin, Club, Ginger Nuts, Family Circle, and Minis.[8](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/explore-our-brands/mcvities/) In 2009 the company cut the saturated fat content of its flagship Rich Tea and HobNob brands by 50 percent, which it described as a biscuit category first.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/)
## Royal commissions
Royal association began in 1893, when McVitie & Price was asked to bake the wedding cake of Queen Mary and King George V.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) The most famous commission came in 1947: the wedding cake for Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten stood over 2.5 meters tall and, according to the [Evening Standard](https://www.edgepedia.org/evening-standard)'s account of the Harlesden display, weighed 500 lbs, with each of its four tiers made of two cakes layered with marzipan. Because of post-war food rationing, ingredients sent from overseas as wedding gifts were returned, and pieces of the cake were later distributed to community children and schools.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) • [5](https://www.standard.co.uk/going-out/restaurants/mcvities-celebrates-100-years-6358137.html) The company has held a Royal Warrant.[4](https://www.history.cccbr.org.uk/pdf/Chapter_15_Humour_Animals_and_Bells.pdf)
## Factories and manufacturing
The Harlesden factory in north-west London, founded by Alexander Grant and opened on 9 September 1902, marked a century of baking there in 2012.[5](https://www.standard.co.uk/going-out/restaurants/mcvities-celebrates-100-years-6358137.html) A BBC Two episode of *Inside the Factory* in 2017 followed the production of chocolate digestives there, from the arrival of 28 tonnes of flour to dispatch; the plant produces 80 million biscuits a day, and the program showed that the chocolate is applied to the bottom of the biscuit and that the biscuits are shaped by a bronze roller costing up to £10,000.[6](https://bakeryinfo.co.uk/finished-goods/pladis-to-feature-on-bbcs-inside-the-factory/623901.article) The Carlisle site, opened in 1831, is described by the company as Britain's oldest biscuit factory and the first to mass-produce biscuits for consumers; it makes Ginger Nuts, Bourbons and Custard Creams.[10](https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2019/04/01/McVitie-s-factory-makes-TV-appearance/) The Wigston plant in [Leicestershire](https://www.edgepedia.org/leicestershire), established in 1895, produces over 15,000 tonnes of biscuits per year.[11](https://www.powercontrol.co.uk/about/case-studies/mcvitie-s/)
## Ownership
In 1948 McVitie & Price merged with MacFarlane Lang to form United Biscuits, which led to the opening of the first fully automated factory, the London Harlesden plant.[3](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/) In June 2016 the brand became part of the pladis Group, formed from the merger of Ülker, Godiva and United Biscuits under Yıldız Holding.[1](https://www.mcvitiesmalta.com/brand/) pladis operates 27 bakeries in 11 countries with a 16,000-strong global team.[2](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/who-are-pladis/) The UK legal entity McVitie's Limited, incorporated on 3 November 2011 and registered in Chiswick, London, is controlled by Pladis (UK) Limited, which holds 75 percent or more of shares and voting rights.[12](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07834188) • [13](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07834188/persons-with-significant-control)
## Market position
McVitie's dominates the UK biscuits market with about a quarter of market share, and six of its biscuits rank in the top ten by sales.[7](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/biscuits) The Digestive, first produced in 1892, remains a bestseller, and chocolate digestives, Rich Tea and Hobnobs were ranked the UK's top three favorite dunking biscuits in a 2009 poll.[14](https://stdavidschurchexeter.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/New-Leaves-May-26.pdf) • [15](https://ycmou.ac.in/media/publication/ycmou_book/RVV_YB_130.pdf) Dunking is a recurring theme in the brand's public image: a commissioned analysis of dunking physics compared Hobnob, Digestive and Rich Tea biscuits, and a 2017 BBC program visited Nottingham University's sensory lab for scientific evidence that dunking improves flavor.[16](https://k-nom.com/assets/biscuit_report.pdf) • [6](https://bakeryinfo.co.uk/finished-goods/pladis-to-feature-on-bbcs-inside-the-factory/623901.article)
## References
1. [About us, McVitie's Malta](https://www.mcvitiesmalta.com/brand/)
2. [Who are pladis, Better Biscuits by pladis](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/who-are-pladis/)
3. [Timeline, McVitie's Canada](https://www.mcvitiescanada.com/timeline/)
4. [McVitie & Price, Central Council of Church Bell Ringers history chapter](https://www.history.cccbr.org.uk/pdf/Chapter_15_Humour_Animals_and_Bells.pdf)
5. [McVitie's celebrates 100 years, London Evening Standard](https://www.standard.co.uk/going-out/restaurants/mcvities-celebrates-100-years-6358137.html)
6. [Pladis to feature on BBC's Inside the Factory, British Baker](https://bakeryinfo.co.uk/finished-goods/pladis-to-feature-on-bbcs-inside-the-factory/623901.article)
7. [Ethical, vegan and palm-oil free biscuits, Ethical Consumer](https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/biscuits)
8. [McVitie's, Better Biscuits by pladis](https://www.betterbiscuits.com/about-us/explore-our-brands/mcvities/)
9. [History of Advertising Trust Annual Report 2020](https://www.hatads.org.uk/documents/About_HAT/Annual%20Reports/HAT_2020.pdf)
10. [McVitie's factory makes TV appearance, Food Manufacture](https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2019/04/01/McVitie-s-factory-makes-TV-appearance/)
11. [Power Control case study: McVitie's](https://www.powercontrol.co.uk/about/case-studies/mcvitie-s/)
12. [MCVITIE'S LIMITED overview, Companies House](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07834188)
13. [MCVITIE'S LIMITED persons with significant control, Companies House](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07834188/persons-with-significant-control)
14. [National Biscuit Day: 29th May, St David's Church Exeter](https://stdavidschurchexeter.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/New-Leaves-May-26.pdf)
15. [Biscuits and tea culture reference text, YCMOU](https://ycmou.ac.in/media/publication/ycmou_book/RVV_YB_130.pdf)
16. [Biscuit Dunking Analysis, k-nom.com](https://k-nom.com/assets/biscuit_report.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Food, cooking and hospitality › Food industry, science, safety, and policy › Food industry, companies and commerce › Snack, confectionery, and packaged-food manufacturers › Salty snacks, biscuits, and crackers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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