Weetabix

This article is about the breakfast cereal known as "Weetabix". For the company which produces it, see Weetabix Limited.

Weetabix logo

Weetabix is a whole grain wheat breakfast cereal produced by Weetabix Limited of the United Kingdom. It comes in the form of palm-sized (rounded rectangles approx. 9.5 cm × 5.0 cm or 4" × 2") biscuits. Variants include organic and Weetabix Minis (bite-sized) versions. The UK cereal is manufactured in Burton Latimer, Kettering, England, and in Canada and exported to over 80 countries. Weetabix for the North American market (Canada and the U.S) is manufactured in Cobourg, Ontario, in both organic and conventional versions.

Weetabix is made from whole grain wheat and the version sold in the United Kingdom has 3.8 g of fibre in a 37.5 g serving (2 biscuits). The product sold in the U.S. has 4 grams of fibre in a 35 g serving.

History

Main article: History of Weet-Bix

Weetabix was invented in Australia in the 1920s by Bennison Osborne. He and New Zealand partner Malcolm Macfarlane sold the Australian and New Zealand rights for "Weet-Bix" to Sanitarium Health Food Company in 1930. Osborne and Macfarlane then formed the "British & African Cereal Company Pty. Ltd.", and began exporting the product to South Africa. Production began in 1932 in an unused gristmill at Burton Latimer, near Kettering. When they introduced the product to the British market they renamed the product "Weetabix". In 1936, the name of the company was changed to Weetabix Limited.

Weet-Bix are currently marketed in Australasia and South Africa by Sanitarium. The product was introduced to North America in 1967, when Weetabix Limited began exporting the product to Canada. The United States followed in 1968.

On May 3, 2012 Bright Food announced it will take a 60% stake in Weetabix in a deal that values the company at £1.2bn.

Two Weetabix in a bowl

Advertising

In the 1980s, Weetabix advertising anthropomorphized the biscuits, representing a group of 'street-wise' young teens, beginning as 'skinheads'. Their appearances on the packaging and associated publicity featured catch phrases such as "titchy breakfast cereals" to describe rivals, with the response "Neet Weet Mate", "OK!".

Weetabix was the title sponsor of the Women's British Open, a women's major golf championship, from 2001 to 2006.

In 1981, Weetabix aired an advertisement entitled 1, which showed a big "1" as a crop circle-like figure in a field

Video game

In 1984, a promotional Weetabix video game, Weetabix versus the Titchies, was released for various 8-bit home computers.[1] The game was a variant of Space Invaders.

Variants

Weetabix Minis

Weetabix Minis are essentially a sweeter 'bite-size' version of the standard Weetabix biscuits, with various additions depending upon the variety - 'chocolate', 'banana', 'fruit & nut' and 'honey & nut'.

Outside of the UK, the cereal has been relaunched and renamed at least twice in a relatively short period of time following their launch. Previously, they were known as Fruitibix, Bananabix and Chocobix (depending upon the additions), then as Minibix.

Organic

Organic versions of Weetabix are sold in various countries.

Oatibix

Main article: Oatibix

Oatibix is similar to Weetabix, but is based on whole grain oats instead of wheat.

Weetabix Chocolate

Weetabix launched a chocolate-powder infused version of the original Weetabix in the UK on July 2010 in a 24 pack size.

Weetabix Chocolate Spoonsize

A smaller-sized Weetabix biscuit with cocoa and chocolate chips.

Weetabix Baked with Golden Syrup

A sweeter form of the Weetabix biscuit which is baked with Golden Syrup.

See also

• Weet-Bix
• Frosted Mini-Wheats - sugar-coated wheat pellets
• Shredded Wheat - another wheat-based biscuit cereal.
• Ruskets - a similar product, formerly manufactured by Loma Linda Foods in Riverside, California.

External links

• Weetabix Limited corporate website
• Weetabix advertisement