Entrance to the Phileas Fogg Factory - geograph

Phileas Fogg Ltd is a company that produces

snack A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

products in the United Kingdom that was created in 1982 by Derwent Valley Foods. The brand is named for

Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg ( ) is the protagonist in the 1872 Jules Verne novel '' Around the World in Eighty Days''. Inspirations for the character were the American entrepreneur George Francis Train and American writer and adventurer William Perry Fogg ...

, the protagonist of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's ''

Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate ...

'', and the products are made in

Consett Consett is a town in the County Durham (district), County Durham district, in the ceremonial county of County Durham, Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. When Derwent Valley Foods was sold in 1993, its products were rebranded but poorly received, leading to a decline in popularity. The brand was relaunched in 2009.

Early years

The Phileas Fogg snack range was launched in 1982 by Derwent Valley Foods, a company founded by Roger McKechnie, Keith Gill, Ray McGhee and John Pike, who invested £67,000 of their own money. The aim was to create a snack targeted to adults and branded with a recognisable character. The range included different flavours "from around the world" such as miniature garlic breads and tortilla chips.

Decline in the 1990s

Between the late 1980s and early 1990s, Phileas Fogg snacks achieved a turnover of more than £30 million. In 1993, the brand was purchased by

United Biscuits United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In ...

for £24 million. The four founders left after the sale while United Biscuits made significant changes to the packaging and identity, precipitating a decline in popularity.

2009 relaunch

United Biscuits relaunched the brand in 2009 after research showed a large number of British consumers were still aware of it. The relaunch placed emphasis on using authentic ingredients from different countries. In 2013, the brand was revised under new owners KP Snacks, with the new product line-up having more emphasis on being inspired by various countries instead. However this was short-lived and the range has again been discontinued, which KP Snacks have confirmed via their social media channels.

References

{{Reflist Snack food manufacturers of the United Kingdom Brand name snack foods British snack foods