Jacobs Presentation

On Wednesday 6th April 2022, Archbishop Beck welcomed Matt Lees (Factory General Manager), Steve Howarth (Area Engineer Manager) and Shelby Dawes (Engagement Advisor) for an informative presentation to our sixth form business students on the different career pathways that are open to our students across the Jacob’s site. Each of the presenters gave an insight into their own career journey from the academic routes available as well as discussing apprenticeship opportunities in for students when they leave Archbishop Beck. The presentation also included the history of the company from 1851 and how it is now part of Pladis, which is a global company with over 34 factories in 13 countries with over 17,000 employees producing products that reach over 4 billion customers worldwide. The students really enjoyed the session with one commenting “you don’t really appreciate how many different roles there are in the business, even though we walk past it every day”. The college very much appreciated the passion from the Jacob’s staff, and very much look forward to building a positive relationship moving forward.  Thank you on behalf of us all at Archbishop Beck Catholic College. History of Jacobs Jacob’s is a brand name for several lines of biscuits and crackers in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The brand name is owned by the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group, part of Valeo Foods, which produces snacks for the Irish market. The brand name is used under licence by United Biscuits, part of Pladis. The originator of the Jacob’s brand name was the small biscuit bakery, W. & R. Jacob, founded in 1851 in Bridge Street, Waterford, Ireland, by William Beale Jacob and his brother Robert. It later moved to Bishop Street in Dublin, Ireland, with a factory in Peter’s Row. A factory in Aintree, Liverpool, was opened in 1914. Jacob’s Bishop Street premises was one of several prominent Dublin buildings occupied by rebels during the Easter Rising of 1916. In 1922, a separate English company was formed, W. & R. Jacob (L’pool) Ltd. The two branches separated, with the Dublin branch retaining the W. & R. Jacob name while the Liverpool branch was renamed Jacob’s Bakery Ltd. In the 1970s, W. & R. Jacob in Dublin merged with Boland’s Biscuits to form Irish Biscuits Ltd. and moved to Tallaght, a Dublin suburb. The Liverpool factory joined Associated Biscuits in 1960, which was purchased by Nabisco in 1982. In 1990, the two companies once again came under common ownership and became Jacob’s Biscuit Group when they were acquired by the French company Groupe Danone. In July 2004, Groupe Danone and United Biscuits announced that they had made an agreement for the latter to acquire Jacob’s Biscuit Group. However, only days later, Groupe Danone, United Biscuits, and Fruitfield Foods announced that Jacob’s Biscuit Group would be split, with United Biscuits acquiring only the UK portion of the Group and Fruitfield Foods acquiring the Republic of Ireland portion. Fruitfield Foods was subsequently renamed the Jacob Fruitfield Food Group and is now part of the Valeo Food Group. Valeo Foods was established in September 2010 through the merger of Batchelors and Origin Foods. Since their acquisitions, United Biscuits and Jacob Fruitfield Food Group have sparred in court over the use of the Jacob’s brand name.

With the acquisition of Groupe Danone’s biscuit division by Kraft Foods in 2007, the production and sales of Jacob’s biscuits in Malaysia are done through Mondelez Malaysia. In 2009, after 156 years of making biscuits in Ireland, Jacob Fruitfield shut its Tallaght plant. 220 jobs were lost while the company retained around 100 staff in a variety of roles. Source: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s