Blue Riband is a chocolate biscuit currently produced by Nestlé. The bar was launched in 1936[1] by Gray Dunn, one of Scotland's major biscuit producers and a subsidiary of confectionery giant Rowntree's, as a real milk chocolate wafer – a crisp wafer biscuit covered in a very thin layer of milk chocolate. They also produced a similar, non coated, wafer called Caramel Wafer.
The Gray Dunn factory also made Breakaway. The Gray Dunn factory in Glasgow continued to produce Blue Riband until 1994 when Nestlé closed it down and moved production to Newcastle.
Both products came under the Nestlé banner when it bought out the Rowntree's group and Nestlé announced in April 2017 that production was to move to Poland.[2]
The current biscuit is much smaller than in the past. It is now packed in a sealed sleeve, whereas it used to have a cellophane wrapper with a large blue bow on it, twist closed at each end.
Gray Dunn itself did continue in business after its management team bought it from Nestle in 1997. It made its own brand biscuits for several UK supermarkets. It went into receivership in 2001.
It was first marketed primarily in the North of the UK, Switzerland, Europe, and in the U.S; it was re-launched in December 2004. The modern version is not as crisp as the original, and the chocolate layer is sweeter and thicker.[citation needed] Blue Riband's primary competitor is the KitKat bar, also manufactured by Nestlé since 1988, which is a similar product and a main reason for the redesign of Blue Riband.[3]
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
