The company said the move was part of a strategy to expand the company into a multi-national consumer food business across the Asia Pacific.
“We have a fantastic legacy, a strong business and a plan for growth by building a world-leading group of businesses from right here in Australia,” the Arnott’s Group CEO George Zoghbi said.
The change has divided biscuit-lovers, with many commenting online comparing the rebranded bird to a “weird wrench on a workbench”, a “decorative bread knife” and even a “plastic can opener”.
However, the logo change only applies to the brand’s corporate identity, with the iconic parrot to remain in its current form on Australians’ biscuit packets.
In addition, two million more cans of soup, 2.7 million packets of stock and a million additional bottles of V8 juice were sold for a year-on-year sales growth of six per cent.
The best performers were Tim Tams, with 270 million packets sold, and Campbell’s soup products, with over five million tins and packets sold in the 2019-2020 financial year.
Although the long-running Australian brand was bought by American private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts from the Campbell Soup Company in 2019, most ingredients are purchased on-shore according to the Arnott’s Group statement.
Over 72,000 tonnes of Australian flour, 23,000 tonnes of Australian sugar and 4,400 tonnes of Australian and New Zealand-made dairy products were used in the production of the snack items.