Weet-Bix
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Weet-Bix is a high-fibre breakfast biscuit manufactured in Australia and New Zealand by the Sanitarium Health Food Company, and in South Africa by Bokomo.
The name is probably a contraction of wheatabix and as such the plural for "Weet-Bix" is generally "Weet-Bix".[citation needed] A closely related product is Weetabix, manufactured in England by Weetabix Limited of Kettering, Northamptonshire. In South Africa Weet-Bix is manufactured by Bolandse Kooperatiewe Molenaars (Bokomo) in Malmesbury.
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[edit] History
Sanitarium's breakfast cereal, wheat biscuits, originated in the 1890s in a product made of wheat flakes called Granose, invented by the Kellogg brothers, who went on to invent Corn Flakes.[1] In the 1920s a company called Grain Products created a new sweetened biscuit by the name of Weet-Bix. In 1928, Sanitarium acquired Grain Products, which like Sanitarium had ties with the Seventh-day Adventist Church and made Weet-Bix a Sanitarium product.
Weet-Bix, the cereal, was developed by Bennison Osborne in New South Wales, Australia in the mid 1920s. Benn set out to make a product more palatable than "Granose." He tried his new product on his nieces and nephews until he had it perfected, and in 1928 registered the tradename "Weetbix". Production began at 659 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt with the financial backing of Arthur Shannon. Osborne's friend Malcolm Ian "Mac" Macfarlane from New Zealand joined him to take on a marketing role. The product was so successful that in October 1928, Shannon sold the rights in the product to the Sanitarium Health Food Company, at which point Macfarlane suggested that they take the product to New Zealand. The product proved so successful in New Zealand it became difficult to adequately supply the market from Australia and factories were established in Auckland and Christchurch. The enterprise was such a great success that in 1930 Shannon again sold out to Sanitarium.
Osborne and Macfarlane then exported the product to South Africa where they obtained other financial backing and installed a factory in Cape Town, forming the British & African Cereal Company Pty Ltd, which was registered in London with Osborne as managing director. For the purpose of differentiating between the various countries, it was decided that the product, when introduced into England, should be known as "Weetabix". In England, Osborne and Macfarlane became the joint managing directors with Osborne controlling production and Macfarlane controlling marketing. Thirty-three potential sites for the factory were examined, with Burton Latimer in Northamptonshire eventually being chosen, due in part to the offer of a disused flour mill by a Mr George who was allotted shares in the company.[2]
Macfarlane quit the business to go overseas, leaving Osborne as its sole managing director. A fleet of cars was purchased and salesmen employed throughout England. Osborne sold his shareholding to the directors in 1936 and left the company to go to the United States, establishing a factory in Clinton, Massachusetts. Weetabix was unsuccessful in the U.S., however, and Osborne eventually became the wartime supervisor of the Army Air Force Base in Zephyrhills, Florida, returning in 1946. About 1992, Weetabix successfully entered the U.S. market from Canada via Clinton, Massachusetts, the site of the unsuccessful U.S. factory. Osborne died in 1980.
[edit] Brand popularity
Weet-Bix is seen in both Australia and New Zealand as an iconic national foodstuff. An online poll of 16,000 people in 2006 identified it as Australia's favourite trademark.[3] The product has been marketed in Australia and New Zealand since the 1960s with the catchphrase "Aussie/Kiwi Kids are Weet-Bix kids". Weet-Bix sponsors a number of Australian sports teams, including the national cricket and rugby union teams, members of whom have appeared in some television advertising campigns.
[edit] See also
- Weetabix - the English variant that is now exported to around 80 countries.
- Shredded Wheat - another wheat-based biscuit cereal.
[edit] References
- ^ "Inventor of the Week : W.K Kellogg". http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/kellogg.html. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
- ^ For records see the 1932 and 1933 papers Kettering Leader & Guardian, and Northamptonshire Advisor and also the 19 May 1933 Town and Country News.
- ^ "Weet-Bix Top Trademark", ABC News, September 26, 2006.
