Wagon Wheels
Brand of sweet biscuit-based snack food
title: "Wagon Wheels" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["weston-family", "biscuit-brands", "products-introduced-in-1948", "chocolate-covered-foods", "sandwich-cookies"] description: "Brand of sweet biscuit-based snack food" topic_path: "general/weston-family" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_Wheels" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Brand of sweet biscuit-based snack food ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox food"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Wagon Wheels |
| image | Wagon_Wheel.JPG |
| caption | Wagon Wheel |
| country | Australia, Canada, United Kingdom |
| creator | Arnott's Biscuits, Burton's Foods |
| type | Snack food |
| year | |
| main_ingredient | Marshmallow, chocolate-flavoured coating |
| variations | |
| :: |
| name = Wagon Wheels | image = Wagon_Wheel.JPG | caption = Wagon Wheel | alternate_name = | country = Australia, Canada, United Kingdom | region = | creator = Arnott's Biscuits, Burton's Foods | course = | type = Snack food | year = | served = | main_ingredient = Marshmallow, chocolate-flavoured coating | variations = | calories = | other =
Wagon Wheels are a sweet snack food sold in the United Kingdom as well as other Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand and India. They are also sold in Ireland. They consist of two biscuits that form a sandwich with a marshmallow filling, and they are covered with a chocolate-flavoured coating.
Wagon Wheels were invented by William Peschardt, who sold the patent to Garry Weston, son of W. Garfield Weston. The name (originally "Weston Wagon Wheels") relates to the shape of the biscuits and capitalised 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{{cite web | title = 1900–1945 | work = Slough History | url = http://www.slough.info/slough/s02/s02his1900.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130412233913/http://www.slough.info/slough/s02/s02his1900.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 12 April 2013 | access-date = 2 February 2011 and the Llantarnam site since 1938.{{cite web | title = Cwmbran: Llantarnam – The Biscuit Factory and Brickworks | work = Industrial Monmouthshire – The Leftovers | publisher = Phil Jenkins | url = http://industrialgwent.co.uk/cwmbran.htm | access-date = 2 February 2011 | archive-date = 13 September 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100913220215/http://industrialgwent.co.uk/cwmbran.htm | url-status = live
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. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Wagon_wheel_(cropped).jpg" caption="The inside of a Wagon Wheel"] ::
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 diameter of the Australian version is 88 mm, which is 14 mm larger than the UK version; the UK version is thicker by 4 mm.
In popular culture
Wagon Wheels are thrown into the audience by Berwick Kaler during the annual York Theatre Royal pantomime.
Wagon Wheels were chosen by Judge Paul Hollywood as the technical challenge for the first episode in series 9 of The Great British Bake Off.
References
References
- (2017-10-06). "Wagon wheels".
- "GWF Media Announcement 29 August 2006".
- Benjamin Wootliff. (31 October 2000). "Wagon Wheels roll west as ABF sells Burton's". The Daily Telegraph.
- (4 September 2010). "Wagon Wheels". practicallyedible.com.
- (23 August 2018). "Great British Bake Off 2018: Why Wagon Wheels are called Wagon Wheels (and other interesting facts)". i News.
- "Arnotts Wagon Wheels".
- Brown, Jonathan. (18 December 2014). "Old Mother Goose, York Theatre Royal, review".
- (28 August 2018). "The Great British Bake Off 2018: episode one – as it happened". The Guardian.
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