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"New" Spicy Twiglets

Quickfire advert for "New" Spicy Twiglets spotted at videocurry.com Give' em some stick etc.

The mysterious disappearance of Jacob's Curry flavoured Twiglets - SOLVED (kinda)

"Unfortunately we no longer produce this flavour"

Hmmm... you don't say... I think the crisp community kinda worked that one out themselves. Pretty much a non-answer here. But, looking over the case for Tangy Twiglets and Worcester sauce flavour Twiglets, I think it's reasonable to assume we won't be seeing these fiends again. and that we any subsequent fleeting flavour appearances will be limited, special and consigned to the crisp history where are they now? files fairly sharpish.

The mysterious disappearance of Jacob's Worcester Sauce flavoured Twiglets - SOLVED

The petition to bring back Worcester sauce flavoured Twiglets tips the 100 mark. However, according to United Biscuits - who haven't got the first idea that the petition even exists - it is doomed to failure. In a formal statement prepared by the Twiglets Brand Manager and relayed to me over the phone the faceless Twiglets flavour slayers of United Biscuits tell us,

Twiglets are a much loved wholewheat snack and they've been a consumer favourite for over 70 years.

In 2005 a limited edition Worcester Sauce variety was produced as a way of providing consumers with an alternative taste to the usual Twiglets. This was only a limited edition and there are no plans to reintroduce it in the near future.

However, we do constantly review the product range that we have to try and show we meet the demands of our customers and we are looking at other product lines at the moment.

That's as far it goes yeah?

I know you were saying [in previous calls] what do we do in terms of listening to people. We have a dedicated consumer care line and we print that number on the back of the packets of our products so that if anyone wants to get in touch with us to let us know what they think about what we make then they can get in touch with us that way. We always listen to their feedback.

It's actually quite a short lifespan for the Worcester sauce flavoured Twiglets and no plans to bring them back...

No plans, no. But if you look at other parts of our product range for example McCoy's Crisps and we do from time to time do seasonal changes in flavour as well as our traditional product range we introduce new flavours at diffeent time sof the year and try and gauge people's reaction to it. So, we're always looking at ways of introducing new flavours, but of course consumers tastes change all the time. So, as well as continuing with our core products we will look at different flavour varieties from time to time.

Have you got any details about the sales numbers?

I haven't, but it's very unlikely we would have released that anyway.

But, it was always seen as a short term thing then.

It was. Absolutely.

So, there you have it. No more Worcester Sauce flavoured Twiglets. May I also add it took no less than eight phone calls to get just this much information... But don't let that put you off. Go ahead and sign the petition. Shit happens.

UPDATE: First reactions are not good,

"Truely this is a great shame for all mankind. I feel i have wasted my time searching all supermarkets for these wonderful products, and some how worcester sauce poured in a bag of twiglets just doesn’t cut it. Jacobs you should be ashamed of yourselves, I hope I never meet any of you in a dark tunnel. I will never eat another twiglet again" Gus.

The mysterious disappearance of Jacob's Tangy Twiglets - SOLVED

From the comment box of Planned Random Action in Warwickshire, a commenter called lisa posts this response,

Thank you for contacting us concerning your inability to find Jacob’s Tangy Twiglets. We regret to advise you that these are now discontinued and are unlikely to be manufactured again.

Before any product reaches the shelves, extensive and costly product development and research is undertaken. Only a small percentage of new product concepts reach the retail outlet, and even then, products may easily fail to gain the necessary appeal. Sadly, therefore, some products are removed from sale after only a seemingly short time.

However, a longer manufactured product may also be discontinued due to a falling off of popularity, resulting in it no longer being a viable product to produce.

We are genuinely sorry that we cannot give a more favourable response in this instance.

Kind regards,
   Sue Gibson,
   Consumer Services Co-or

 

After no less than 8 phone calls to the media relations department of United Biscuits I now know the explanation as to why Worcester Sauce flavoured Twiglets also disappeared after a very short life. I will blog it forthwith, once I've composed myself... Meanwhile, keep pushing for the return of Tangy Twiglets - if the pain's too strong - on this email address,

jacobsconsumerservices@unitedbiscuits.com

Technorati Tags: Twiglets, Tangy Twiglets, Worcester Sauce, customer support