In bad news for biscuit fans, Arnott’s has discontinued its iconic Classic Assorted variety packs – ending an era of fierce family debates over which one reigns supreme.
Eagle-eyed 2GB radio listener Peter Neve shared the revelation with host Ben Fordham this morning, after noticing the offering was missing from shelves.
The pack – renowned for “bringing your favourites together” – included six varieties: Shortbread Creams, Kingstons, Monte Carlos, Scotch Fingers, Butternut Snap and Choc Chip. The 500g pack typically retailed for $4.50.
“It is my duty to inform you of news that is going to rock the biscuit world,” Fordham declared.
“A staple in every office tea room in Australia is about to disappear.”
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Neve said he’d noticed the product “missing for months, really, off and on” from the shelves of his local IGA.
“But I’d put it down to the fact that … they had a fire in the distribution centre in Sydney so supplies were restricted of many products, and one of those was Arnott’s biscuits,” he explained.
“And I’d find that my favourite product was missing from the bottom shelf. I didn’t worry about it too much, until finally, another product turned up in its place.”
Fordham was distressed when Neve shared that was indeed the Arnott’s Classic Assorted package.
“That’s right. There’s six different biscuits, and they’re the better products,” Neve said.
“And what do they do? They replaced it with a package slightly smaller, 400 grams instead of 500 grams. We only get four different types of biscuits instead of six, and what’s more, they increased the price.”
Fordham asked whether Australians (presumably led by Neve) were “going to fight to get it back”.
“You can do miracles these days,” the listener told Fordham. “I hope to see them back on shelves next week.”
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After ending the call, Fordham pointed to “all of the tearooms” around the country now missing the staple biscuit assortments.
“The question is, are we going to cop this? Or are we going to fight back?”
In a statement, Arnott’s confirmed that “due to ongoing low sales and limited shelf space in supermarkets, the difficult decision was made to stop production of this product”.
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