The Griffin's Foods Company is a New Zealand

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 ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

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 food item. 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 savoury, similar to crackers. ...

manufacturing in 1890. Products commercialised by Griffin's include

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

confection Confectionery is the art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two broad and somew ...

, crackers, cereal bars, and snack food. Since 1962, Griffin's has been owned by several companies including

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' ...

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...

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, in turnaround and growth capital transactions. By 2023, ''The Austral ...

and

Universal Robina Universal Robina Corporation, abbreviated as URC and also known as Universal Robina, is a Philippine company headquartered in Quezon City. It is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the Philippines, along with San Miguel Corporat ...

. As of 2021, it has been wholly-owned by

Intersnack Intersnack Group GmbH & Co. KG is a German snack food company that annually produces around 600,000 tonnes of snacks including potato chips, nuts, baked products and specialty snacks. The company made its first potato chips in 1968. The company ...

. Griffin's had sales of approximately NZ$300 million in 2011.

History

The company was founded by English John Griffin (1813–1893)JOURNAL OF THE NELSON AND MARLBOROUGH HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6, 1995
/Ref> in

, New Zealand in 1869 as a

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

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 baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

shop one year later. After it was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1855, Griffin moved to

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, then returning to Nelson a few years later 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. Griffin factory 1905

After Griffin died in 1893, 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 share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 () is a list of cities in New Zealand, 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#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

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

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...

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

. Griffin bought confectionery manufacturer Sweetacres 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 (businessman), George Palme ...

' crackers to its brand portfolio, 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

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

. 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, 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 of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. In July 2014,

divested of Griffin's Foods, selling the operations to Philippine company

for NZ$700 million.Biscuit 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 is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n market starting with the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. In December 2019, Universal Robina and German company

formed Unisnack ANZ, a joint venture comprising Griffin's and

Snack Brands Australia Snackbrands (SBA) is one of the largest suppliers of snack foods in Australia and acts as the main competitor to the long established The Smith's Snackfood Company. The company was founded in August 1998 as a subsidiary of parent company Sna ...

. Intersnack held a 40% stake in the consolidated business. In August 2021, Universal Robina exited the Australian and New Zealand market by selling its remaining 60% stake in Unisnack ANZ to Intersnack.

Products

The company's food range comprises:

Biscuits

* Cameo Creme * Chit Chat * Chocolate Fingers * Digestive * Squiggles * Toffee Pops * Cookie Bear Hundreds & Thousands

Notes

References

External links

* {{Brands of New Zealand g Snack food manufacturers of New Zealand Food and drink companies based in Auckland Manufacturing companies based in Auckland Companies established in 1864 Food brands of New Zealand New Zealand subsidiaries of foreign companies Food and drink companies established in 1864 Former JG Summit Holdings subsidiaries Intersnack