Wagon Wheels

For the 1934 film, see Wagon Wheels (1934 film).

Wagon Wheel

Wagon Wheels are a snack food sold in Australia, Canada, Iran, United Kingdom, Russia, Malta and the Republic of Ireland. They are biscuits topped with marshmallow and covered in a chocolate flavoured coating. The biscuit itself is round to represent the wheel of a wagon (hence the name).

Wagon Wheels were created by Garry Weston, (son of W. Garfield Weston). Garry Weston worked for his father's business in Australia before taking over his family's UK business. The biscuits were first launched at the 1948 Olympia Food Fair. The name was derived from the fact that the Wild West was very popular at the time. They were originally marketed as Weston Wagon Wheels.

Production and Size

In the United Kingdom they are produced and distributed by Burton's Foods who separated from the Weston family connection when they were sold out of Associated British Foods in 2000. The original factory which produced the biscuit was in Slough but during the early 1980s were transferred to an updated and modern factory in Llantarnam in South Wales. Weston had been producing biscuits on the Slough site since 1934 and the Llantarnam site since 1938.

In Canada, Wagon Wheels are produced by Dare Foods Limited. They come in Original, Fudge, Choco Cherry, and Raspberry flavours.^{[citation needed]}

In Iran, Wagon Wheels are produced by Shirin Asal.

In Australia, Wagon Wheels are produced by Arnott's Biscuits. George Weston Foods Limited sold the brand to Arnott's in August 2003.

There have been many debates amongst fans of the biscuit about its size. Wagon Wheels have supposedly shrunk in size as time has progressed, but Burton's Foods Ltd have denied this. It has been suggested that the supposed shrinkage is due to an adult's childhood memory of eating a Wagon Wheel held in a much smaller hand. In Australia however, Arnott's have stated that tray packs of Wagon Wheels were in fact Mini Wagon Wheels and have re-released the original 48g Wagon Wheels.

The original factory in Slough produced the biscuit with crinkled edges and corn cobbs rather than the updated smoother edges. This caused the overall diameter of the biscuit to shrink slightly, but not as much as fans of the biscuit believe.^{[citation needed]}

Also, although the UK Wagon Wheel has barely shrunk, it is still noticeably smaller than the Australian equivalent. As of 2006 the diameter of the Australian version is measured at 88 mm which is 14 mm larger than the UK version, while the UK Wagon Wheel is notably thicker by 4 mm.

As of 2006, the Canadian Wagon Wheel measured 67mm x 18mm.

As of July 2010, the Canadian Wagon Wheel measures 65mm x 16mm. Note the diameter of the marshmallow middle is smaller than the top and bottom wafer diameters.^{[citation needed]}

Advertising

Interest in Wagon Wheels was at an all time peak when the British female comedians French and Saunders made a sketch with Jennifer Saunders dressed as a schoolgirl stuffing a Wagon Wheel into her mouth. Wagon Wheels were "re-launched" in 2002.

Two previous slogans for the product have been:

• "A taste for adventure."
• "If there's a bigger bite, it can't be found."

The current slogan is "You've got to grin to get it in".

Flavours

The original wagon wheel which is now called "chocolate" had a marshmallow centre and not a jam centre.

• Original
• Jammie
• Toffee
• Double Choc
• Caramel
• Banoffee
• Choco Pie--a similar Korean product

Miscellaneous

Actor Berwick Kaler throws them, like Frisbees, to the audience at the end of the annual pantomime at the Theatre Royal in York.

See also

• Weston family
• Choco pie
• Moon pie

External links

• Australian Wagon Wheels Website
• Burtons Foods
• Dare Foods Wagon Wheels