Pladis may be developing new healthier bakery lines for its McVitie’s and Jacob’s brands.
The snack manufacturing giant’s UK division applied to register the brand name and logo for ‘Jacob’s Bites’ on 31 May with the Intellectual Property Office under class 30, which covers the likes of confectionery, chocolates, biscuits, crackers, and wafers.
A spokesperson for Pladis said that the company didn’t have any news to share ”at this stage” regarding the Jacob’s innovation, adding “like all companies, as part of our planning process we trademark brand names from time to time, sometimes speculatively”.
Among the new Jacob’s products launched last year were revamped versions of its oven baked Crinklys featuring 30% less fat.
On 6 June, Pladis UK also registered the trade name ‘McVitie’s Zero’ under class 30. A company spokesperson confirmed that McVitie’s Digestives Zero – which contain 0% added sugar but is high in fibre – were currently only available in Turkey (the country where its parent company Yidiz Holding is based), with no plans to launch it elsewhere.
“As a global company behind some of the world’s most loved and iconic brands, we routinely trademark all our brand names in territories around the world,” noted the spokesperson.
McVitie’s has already rolled out HFSS-compliant options in the UK with Rich Tea Delights and Wholesense Digestives launched during 2022. Both claim to contain 30% less sugar than their average biscuit comparisons.
Earlier this month, British Baker reported on health experts calling for an extension of the sugar tax to cover cakes, biscuits, and chocolate, while pointing to its success on soft drinks in improving UK consumer diets.
Waste watching
While healthier recipes are potentially in the pipeline for the UK, Pladis has unveiled its latest sustainability commitment by implementing new packaging with 78% less plastic in its well-known Jacob’s Crackers Selection boxes.
Packaging firm DS Smith had been tasked by the manufacturer to come up with a box that minimise plastic waste while retaining the signature look and feel, including the impactful orange design with high quality print and tamper proof seal.
“Jacob’s Crackers Selection presented us with a great opportunity to make a significant impact in one fell swoop by reducing our plastic content for this product by over three quarters,” commented Suzanne Westlake, global director of sustainability at Pladis. “Plastic reduction remains top of mind for shoppers and retailers alike, and it’s essential we continue to challenge ourselves to reduce plastic in all our packaging, so making this important change to one of our best-known and long-loved products is a great step forward.”
Pladis UK recently posted increases of 14.9% and 11.8% in sales and adjusted EBITDA respectively for its full-year results from 2023. Total revenue hit £984.4m, with growth attributed to inflation-driven price hikes for its brands including McVitie’s, Jacob’s, Carr’s, Go Ahead!, Flipz, and BN. The company said its share of the UK biscuit market had improved slightly to 22.2%.
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