Jacobs Bakery brands face axe in wake of United Biscuits review

United Biscuits (UB) has started a review of the biscuit brands that it recently acquired from Jacobs.

Bakery with a view to scrapping competing and underperforming brands.It is understood that the review is due to be completed in February, when the company also plans to announce its new structure. It is not clear what the changes will mean for Jacobs’ marketing team, which includes marketing director Graham Hunter.

UB, which acquired Jacobs in September, is looking at the conflict between a number of the products from Jacobs and its own range of biscuits. The Club chocolate biscuit, which competes with UB’s Penguin, is understood to be one of several brands that could be scrapped. The enlarged company is also planning to slim down its traditional biscuit range, which includes long-running brands such as Crawfords and Family Circle.

UB is also keen to develop into the healthier snacks range and is understood to be reviewing the position of Jacobs Thai Bites with a view to either taking it under the Go Ahead! brand or scrapping the brand and launching an entirely new product.

An industry source says that there is a question mark over the future of brands such as Club, but claims that this does not mean that UB is ruling out the possibility of scrapping its own under-performing products. She adds that Jacobs was understood to be planning a number of new products for next year, but it is now unclear whether these will go ahead.

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