Classic Australian biscuit manufacturer, Arnott’s Group, has resumed manufacturing in New Zealand after a 25-year hiatus. The quintessentially Australian treats were manufactured in New Zealand, at a factory in Ōtāhuhu, South Auckland, until 1997, when production was moved to Australia after a change in ownership.

Now, the construction of a 400m² factory in Auckland means that some of the manufacturing of Arnott’s biscuits will make the return to New Zealand.

“The capability of this site allows us to make a number of different formats, obviously crackers, but things like cookies, bars, and filled products. The site itself will retain that batch-baked process, so [production] won’t be through long manufacturing lines, and that’ll give us a lot of flexibility to create different formats,” Arnott’s Group NZ country director Mike Cullerne told Stuff.

The new factory will be located in Avondale in Auckland, and it will have the capacity to make around 100 batches of biscuits and crackers each day. The company expects that it will be able to produce 7.5 million packs of crackers and biscuits at the factory annually.

“The benefit for us being able to build a factory in New Zealand is being able to tap into local manufacturing capability but also local suppliers.

“Over the last three years in particular, with various supply chain challenges across the world, it has become very clear that having local production and local capability gets you closer to the market and closer to the consumer,” Mike continued.

“It is really important for us to live by that and invest by that. This Avondale site represents a real step change in our approach in this market.”

The new factory is already producing baked goods, with Arnott’s Shortbread Bites being the first products baked on the site.