Wagon Wheels are a snack food sold in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, other Commonwealth countries, and the Republic of Ireland. They consist of two biscuits with marshmallow sandwich filling, covered in a chocolate-flavoured coating. Wagon Wheels were created by Garry Weston, son of W. Garfield Weston. Garry Weston worked for his father's business in Australia before taking over his family's business in England. He placed two Marie biscuits around a marshmallow filling and covered it with chocolate. They were introduced in 1948. The name relates to the shape of the biscuits and capitalized on the Wild West, which was popular in mass media at the time.
Production and size
In Australia, Wagon Wheels are now produced by Arnott's Biscuits. George Weston Foods Limited sold the brand to Arnott's in August 2003. In the United Kingdom Wagon Wheels are produced and distributed by Burton's Foods who separated from the Weston family connection when they were sold out of Associated British Foods in 2000. The original factory which produced the biscuit was in Slough but during the early 1980s production was transferred to an updated and modern factory in Llantarnam in South Wales. Weston had been producing biscuits on the Slough site since 1934 and the Llantarnam site since 1938. In Canada, Wagon Wheels were originally produced by McCormick's, however they are now under the Dare Foods Limited name. They come in Original, Fudge, Choco Cherry, and Raspberry flavours. There have been many debates amongst fans of the biscuit about its size. Wagon Wheels have supposedly shrunk in size over time, but Burton's Foods Ltd has denied this. It has been suggested that the supposed shrinkage is due to an adult's childhood memory of eating a Wagon Wheel held in a much smaller hand; this argument is perhaps moot, as it does not explain why the modern Wagon Wheel appears to be fatter than the original. Furthermore, in Australia, Arnott's has stated that tray packs of Wagon Wheels were in fact 'Mini Wagon Wheels' and have re-released the original 48g Wagon Wheels. The original factory in Prestonpans produced the biscuit with crinkled edges and corn cobbs rather than the updated smoother edges. This caused the overall diameter of the biscuit to shrink slightly, but not as much as fans of the biscuit believe. The UK Wagon Wheel has shrunk by 12% over the last 20 years and it is noticeably smaller than the Australian equivalent. the diameter of the Australian version is measured at 88 mm which is 14 mm larger than the UK version, while the UK Wagon Wheel is notably thicker by 4 mm.
Interest in Wagon Wheels was at an all-time peak when the British comedians French and Saunders made a sketch with Jennifer Saunders dressed as a schoolgirl stuffing a Wagon Wheel into her mouth. British comedians Hale and Pace used Wagon Wheels in their recurring "Curly & Nige" sketches, as the Curly and Nige characters won Wagon Wheels from each other by doing self-mutilating and dangerous bets. Wagon Wheels are thrown into the audience by Berwick Kaler during the popular annual York Theatre Royalpantomime. Wagon Wheels were "re-launched" in 2002. Previous slogans for the product have been:
"A taste for adventure."
"If there's a bigger bite, it can't be found."
During the 1980s the slogan in Australia was "It's more than a biscuit, it's a mighty big snack!"
"Eat the Wagon Wheel!" was the catchcry of a campaign where viewers were informed of what items were typically available as snacks in countries where Wagon Wheels were not available. The voiceover would then ask which you would rather eat. Then the reply would come from, for instance, one of the pickled herrings, or snails, on offer, "Eat the Wagon Wheel!"
