McVities

McVitie's

The McVitie's logo as updated in 2005
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Confectionery
Founded	Edinburgh, Scotland (1830 (1830))
Founder	Robert McVitie
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Parent	Pladis
Website	www.mcvities.com

McVitie's is a British snack food brand owned by United Biscuits. The name derives from the original Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company moved to various sites in the city before completing the St. Andrews Biscuit Works factory on Robertson Avenue in the Gorgie district in 1888. The company also operates two large manufacturing plants south of the border in Levenshulme, Manchester / Heaton Chapel, and Harlesden, London.

Though the original 1830 Edinburgh factory burned down in 1894, it was rebuilt the same year and remained operative until 1969, when production ceased and operations were transferred to English sites. McVitie & Price expanded to a new factory in Harlesden in 1910 and to Manchester in 1917. The firm acquired Edinburgh bakery Simon Henderson & Sons in 1922. McVitie & Price merged with another Scottish family bakery, Macfarlane, Lang & Co., Ltd, in 1948 to become United Biscuits Group.

McVitie's brand products are now manufactured in five United Kingdom factories: the two former McVitie & Price factories in Harlesden and Manchester, a former Macfarlane, Laing & Co. factory named Victoria Biscuit Works in Glasgow, a former Carr's factory named The Biscuit Works established 1831 in Carlisle, and the McVitie’s Cake Co. factory (formerly Riley's Toffee Works) in Halifax.

McVitie & Price's first major biscuit was the McVitie's Digestive, the first ever digestive biscuit, created by young new employee Alexander Grant in 1892. The biscuit was given its name because it was thought that its high baking soda content served as an aid to food digestion.

Grant was later to become head of the concern, during which time he was in 1923 the chief benefactor of the then-new National Library of Scotland. Grant then donated another substantial sum in 1928 when the National Library was expanded to occupy the Sheriff Court buildings on George IV Bridge.