The Griffin's Foods Company is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

food company The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, ...

currently headquartered in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and established by John Griffin as a flour and cocoa mill in the city of

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

in 1864.Celebrating 150 Years of Griffin’s
timeline on Scoop website The company started

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be ...

manufacturing in 1890. Griffin's had sales of approximately NZ$300 million in 2011. The company was acquired by Philippine food and beverage company

Universal Robina Universal Robina Corporation (URC) is a Philippine company based in Quezon City, Philippines. It is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the Philippines. History The precursor to Universal Robina Corporation (URC) was founded on ...

for NZ$700 million in 2014. Products commercialised by Griffin's include

cookie A cookie is a baked or cooked snack or dessert that is typically small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of oil, fat, or butter. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, n ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

confection Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

, crackers, cereal bars, and

snack food A snack is a small portion of food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snack ...

History

Beginning

The company was founded by English John Griffin (1813–1889)JOURNAL OF THE NELSON AND MARLBOROUGH HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6, 1995
/Ref> in

Nelson, New Zealand (Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = ...

in 1869 as a

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

and

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

miller in 1864. Griffin had arrived in Nelson in 1854, commencing business in a

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who ...

shop one year later. After it was severely damaged by an earthquake, Griffin briefly moved to Christchurch where he stated other business, then returning to Nelson when conditions improved. Newspaper records show biscuits were in production by the 1880s and the confectionery arm of the business launched in 1886. By the 1890s Griffins were producing a range of candied peels and by the late 1900s drinking cocoa. Main produce was distributed via the Griffins manufacturing plant on Ashmole Street in Christchurch, New Zealand. Griffin factory 1905

After Griffin died in 1889, his sons J.H. and G.R. Griffin carried out the family business. When in February 1895 a huge fire caused a new disaster, they formed a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

with a capital of £5,172. In search of further capital to expand the business, in 1897 a chocolate factory was acquired. Griffin's expanded, making army ration biscuits during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, those where the times of the biscuit industry as a provider of goods for war purposes that helped it become larger than any other industry in New Zealand. Griffin's opened a new factory in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

in 1938, transferring its entire biscuit manufacturing operation there and leaving the Nelson factory entirely to

confectionery Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

manufacture. In 1959, Griffin acquired the Southern Cross Biscuit Factory, a rival company owned by the Dustin family. In 1962, Griffin was purchased by

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco's ...

. Griffin bought confectionery manufacturer

Sweetacres ''Sweetacres'' is the second album from Auckland band The Nudie Suits. It was recorded between 2004 and 2005 in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australi ...

in 1971. The company also added British

Huntley & Palmers Huntley & Palmers is a British company of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. Formed by Joseph Huntley in 1822, the company became one of the world's first global brands (chiefly led by George Palmer who joined in 1841) and r ...

' crackers to its brand porfolio, and two years later Griffin acquired "Eta Foods" including its range of snacks and potato chips brands. The Nelson factory was closed by Nabisco in 1988, with the loss of 137 jobs, most of them women's. The former factory was then demolished. In 1989 Griffin's acquired biscuit company Hudsons, taking on the copyright for the famous Hudson's icon Cookie Bear. When Nabisco was effectively broken up, Griffin's was acquired by Britannia Foods in 1990, but in December of the same year

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of t ...

bought it from Britannia Foods. In 2006 Danone divested Griffin's to

Pacific Equity Partners Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) is a private equity investment firm focusing on transactions in Australia and New Zealand. PEP invests across a range of industries and sectors and in turnaround and growth capital transactions. The firm is based i ...

. One year later, Griffin's acquired the "Nice & Natural Wrapped Snacks" company to become the leader snack food manufacturer in New Zealand. The Lower Hutt plant closed in 2008 with the loss of 200 jobs, with all production transferred to the Auckland sites. In 2009 Griffin's moved the production of its cream filled biscuits, which account for 2.5% of production, to

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. In July 2014,

divested of Griffin's Foods, selling the operations to

for NZ$700 million.Australasian food rush continues with PEP selling New Zealand firm to Philippines' Universal
on Reuters, 21 July 2014Biscuit maker Griffin's sold for $700m
on Stuff NZ, 22 July 2014 In October 2015, Universal Robina announced they were expanding the Griffin's brand to the

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

n market starting with the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Products

The company's food range comprises:

Notes

References

External links

* {{Huntley & Palmers g g Snack food manufacturers of New Zealand Food and drink companies based in Auckland Manufacturing companies based in Auckland Companies established in 1864 New Zealand brands New Zealand subsidiaries of foreign companies Food and drink companies established in 1864