Is it even Christmas without a McVitie’s biscuit?

Three billion biscuits expected to be sold in the UK this month as pladis, the company that owns McVitie’s, shows behind the scenes in new documentary covering Christmas preparations and the launch of the White Chocolate Digestive

With almost three billion McVitie’s biscuits expected to be sold in December, pladis, the leading global snacking company behind the iconic McVitie’s biscuit brand, has allowed the cameras behind the doors of its bakeries and distribution centres in the build-up to the festive season. The resulting documentary, ‘Inside McVitie’s at Christmas’, produced by ITN Productions, will be aired on Channel 4 on the 19 December and it’s guaranteed to get you in the festive mood.

And as the show proves, producing all those biscuits is no easy feat with biscuit gifting at Christmas having grown over 25% in recent years. It just goes to prove how many of us look forward to that box of Christmas biscuits, whether under the tree or in the kitchen cupboard.

For more than 180 years, the McVitie’s brand has supplied treats in the UK and currently produces around 92 million biscuits a day in the run-up to the festive season. It is most famous, of course, for the Victoria selection box which will find its way into one in ten households this December and requires McVitie’s to make and pack 423 million biscuits to meet demand.

Speaking about the behind the scenes look into some of their UK bakeries, , David Murray, MD of pladis UK, comments, “We loved letting the cameras in so people can see just how hard our teams work to deliver the biscuits we all know and love in time for Christmas. Every year, it’s a lot of pressure for the festive period. For us, success is winning at Christmas, and every year our team pulls it off. I hope people enjoy seeing the process in the documentary.”

Brian Jones, who manages pladis’ bakery in Wigston comments, “It was a bit of a juggling act managing the cameras while we carried on making the biscuits, but it was great fun. The team at Wigston work so hard all year round, I’m pleased and very proud that Britain gets an insight into how our biscuits are made.”

The documentary also covers the launch of the new White Chocolate Digestive biscuit, which has gone down a storm with the British public, with 1.7 million households having purchased a packet since they launched in the summer. Viewers will see how the biscuit is developed, from testing different white chocolate flavours to ensuring we get the taste balance just right. With the launch of the White Chocolate Digestive being the biggest of the year for the McVitie’s brand, there was a lot riding on it; 20 tonnes of white chocolate are used in just two days of production with 2.5 million biscuits packed every day the product is made.

But, as the documentary shows, the biscuits were a hit, almost too big a hit, with pladis having to ramp up production as it sold more than three times the forecasted amount.

Commenting on the White Chocolate Digestive, Murray says, “It is so exciting to see that the McVitie’s White Chocolate Digestive biscuit has delighted tastebuds across the nation. We have a brilliant team that develops our products, the documentary shows just how comprehensive the process is. From top chefs, to scientists, to taste testers, there is such a broad range of expertise and job opportunities at food companies like pladis.”