BISCUIT lovers have been left stunned after finding out the little-known reason behind how Hobnobs got its name.
The iconic brand is a staple of cupboards across the UK and first hit supermarket shelves back in 1985.
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But tea-dunking fans may have wondered where exactly the name comes from.
Now, we’ve learned that Hobnob is more than just a fun name ― after watching Channel 4’s The Secret World Of Biscuits.
Pam Langworthy helped to develop and market the oaty delight.
She oversaw a team that had been tasked with making a new biscuit which consumers were excited about, but which was still economical and easy for McVitie’s to make.
Inspired by the flapjack, McVitie’s added oats to a new recipe for a different texture ― and the resulting biscuits were a hit with focus groups.
Langworthy found that those groups “said [the biscuit] was knobbly, because, you know, it wasn’t a very smooth finish in the way, for instance, Digestive or Rich Tea are,” she shared on the Channel 4 doc.
She said: “And they said it looked as if somebody had made it at home, maybe made it on a hob.”
“And so, I wanted a name that was very easy to say and just rolled off the tongue. And so, ‘Hobnob,’” Langworthy revealed.
Andrew Easdale, Langworth’s colleague at the time, was tasked with pitching the name to their bosses.
“There was a sort of ― I wouldn’t say a stunned silence, but there was a, um, hmmm, followed by, ‘couldn’t you call it something a bit more descriptive, like ‘oaty crunchies?’”
“I said ’no, it’s gonna be Hobnobs. We need a brand,” Easdale said.
Happily, they eventually agreed, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“Huge demand for the original led to the introduction of the chocolate variety in 1987,” the McVities site says.
It comes as shoppers who have already got their hands on biscuits dubbed “Aussie gold” are flooding social media and raving about them.
The iconic chocolate snack landed in UK supermarkets for the first time last week, and is already flying off the shelves.
Originally inspired by British Penguin biscuits, they were launched by Australian biscuit manufacturer Arnott’s in 1964.
Back in November, shoppers went wild for a Cadbury selection box full of chocolate favourites usually unavailable in the UK.
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They include Dairy Milk white chocolate Freddos, Scorched Peanut Bars, Snickers Butterscotch, Caramilk Twirls and regular Dairy Milk milk chocolate bars.
And others yelled “it’s a party in my mouth” as B&M rolled out a new M&M flavour normally only seen down under.
