PRODUCT REVIEW: MaBisco ‘Bites’ Sizable Chunk Of Digestive Biscuit Segment

BY FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Whether paired with a cup of tea, served with a cheeseboard or washed with ordinary water, digestive biscuit remains a versatile option. For this sweet-meal biscuit, it is a great treat not only because of its sweet and savoury balance but for more than capable of surviving a tea dunking or two to keep one full during a busy day while offering at least a bit of healthy nutrition.

In this segment, international confectionery brand McVitie’s leads the pack with an annual global turnover of about $5.2billion —selling about 2 billion units of the product annually. As the market leader, McVitie’s has its United Kingdom heritage to thank as it helped in no small measure to give it a feasible presence among digestive lovers globally including Nigeria, the most populous country in sub-urban Africa. 

The success of the over 120 year-old McVitie’s has equally led to the increasing growth of the segment especially as a good snack and a substitute (imperfect maybe) for bread as consumers claim digestive goes down well with tea or other beverages for that matter. Like every other old loyal consumer of McVitie’s, Nigerian consumers obviously fall for its sugary and inviting wheat aroma which makes way for a balanced bite of savoury and sweetness. This paved the way for a franchisee to set up a factory in Lagos, Nigeria to serve these loyal consumers.

However, studies have shown that despite maintaining its leadership position in Africa’s largest market, more and more consumers of this robust digestive are largely expressing concerns over the quality of the locally made McVitie’s product with a consensus that it’s far from its UK Original. This has led to a new tough competition from some number of locally-made digestive biscuit brands, squeezing off a chunk of the market share. 

Leading the pack is the wholly owned Nigerian-brand, MaBisco Digest already giving McVitie’s and others a good run for their money with a serious impact in the food and ready-to-eat segment of the market space. MaBisco —produced by Mayor Biscuit Company Limited, a locally-owned confectionery manufacturing company, located at OPIC Industrial Estate, in Agbara, Ogun State—obviously ready and poised to take on the market leader in Nigeria and by extension the African market.

Given the parameters of nutritional value, taste, texture and crunch, as well as cost, MaBisco is holding its own. Aside from tasting more like the original McVitie’s —which has won it a huge chunk of the adherents of its old recipe— MaBisco not only tastes delicious but also brings with it all the goodness one expects from a digestive.

Buoyed by this claim, PMEXPRESS went ahead to sample some consumers’ taste of the self-acclaimed ‘The Original Naija’ digestive biscuits. From most of testers, the feedback has been awesome as they arguably rated MaBisco highly in its segment as a well-balanced flavour of sugary sweetness with a savoury note from the wheat flour.

“I have tasted few digestive biscuits in the market but I can tell you that MaBisco is a healthy product made with whole wheat flour, no artificial flavours or colors and rich in high fibre,” said Ms. Desola Salami, a Lagos-based baker.

According to her, she used to be a McVitie’s lover having grown up with the brand from childhood. But recently, she couldn’t feel that balanced bite of savoury and sweetness of old in the same brand produced by a franchisee in Nigeria. Salami, however, has her kids to thank as they got her introduced to MaBisco while confessing to feeling what has been lacking in her old favourite popular brand.

“I was a bit skeptical of the product when my eldest daughter told me to take a bite from a piece off the 46g mini-pack but I could not resist asking for extra pack after I felt the soft crumbly texture and mildly sweet taste in this MaBisco tantalizing my taste buds,”she narrated while expressing surprised such high quality biscuit was produced locally here.

Barring the obvious similarities in their package designs, colour motifs, contents — about 46g— and price—of N50— between the two, the competition is headlong as the two brands appear to be at par. But MaBisco seems to stand out ahead of the locally made McVitie’s as it does not break unnecessarily and leaves no crumbs on you as you savour the snack at a very competitive price.

My verdict: In summary, as a lover or interested consumer of digestive, aiming for a crunchy but nicely baked texture that would work well as you dunk in a cup of tea, or love to have it with a bottle of water —preferably room temperature— MaBisco Digest is a must try. And if you do and were planning on having only one, you might probably end up having at least 4 packs!