Key takeaways:
- McVitie’s research found nearly half of UK consumers feel guilty about taking breaks during the day, with many blaming work pressures and packed schedules.
- Despite changing routines, Britain’s biscuit market remains worth more than £3bn annually, with consumers eating an estimated 14bn biscuits each year.
- McVitie’s is increasingly positioning the biscuit break around wellbeing and social connection through its ongoing partnership with mental health charity Mind.
Few food rituals are as closely associated with British daily life as the biscuit break. Whether paired with a morning tea, shared across an office desk or enjoyed during a quick catch-up with family, ‘biccies’ have long occupied an emotional space in the nation’s food culture.
But according to new research from McVitie’s, many consumers now feel too busy – or too guilty – to stop for even a short break during the day.
That presents an interesting challenge for one of Britain’s biggest grocery categories. The UK biscuit market is estimated to be worth more than £3bn a year, while Britons consume around 14bn biscuits annually, according to industry estimates cited by the Food and Drink Federation. From Chocolate Digestives to Custard Creams, biscuits remain deeply tied to habit, comfort and routine in a way few snack categories can match.
Strong consumer attachment continues to translate into sales. Pladis, owner of McVitie’s and Jacobs, passed the £1bn turnover mark in the UK in 2024 after sales climbed to £1.006bn. The Turkish-owned business credited marketing investment and successful innovation for the growth, including campaigns such as The Great Biscuit Break Bonanza alongside launches like Gold Digestives and the premium McVitie’s Signature range.
Yet while biscuit brands continue to perform strongly on shelf, the everyday rituals surrounding them appear to be shifting. McVitie’s recent survey of 2,000 UK adults found that 46% feel guilty about taking time out during the day, while 45% believe the traditional biscuit break is becoming less common because of increasingly hectic schedules.
Britain’s break culture is under pressure
The research paints a picture of consumers struggling to switch off. More than half of respondents (54%) said they feel pressure to always be ‘on’, while the same proportion claimed they’re too busy to stop during the day altogether.
Busy working days were cited by 27% as one of the biggest reasons people struggle to take breaks, followed by constant to-do lists (24%) and packed home routines (18%). Nearly half (48%) said stopping for a break can feel indulgent or unproductive, while one in three (34%) admitted they actually apologise for taking time out.
Regional differences were also apparent. Londoners reported the highest levels of pressure to remain constantly available, with 58% saying they feel unable to properly switch off. In Northern Ireland, 62% said they struggle to take breaks at all – the highest figure recorded in the survey.
Even downtime has become less social. Almost half (47%) of respondents said their breaks are typically spent scrolling on phones, while 35% use spare moments to answer messages or catch up on life admin instead of properly switching off.
Biscuits have historically been tied to shared routines and small social moments. The office tea round, the biscuit tin at home or a quick kitchen catch-up have long helped brands such as McVitie’s build familiarity across generations.
McVitie’s found that appetite for those moments still exists. More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents said Britain should ‘bring back’ the biscuit break, while 79% said spending time with friends and family improves their mood. More than half (54%) also said regular breaks help strengthen family relationships.
McVitie’s turns the biscuit break into a wellbeing campaign
The latest survey forms part of McVitie’s wider Biscuit Break initiative, which centres on mental wellbeing and social connection.
The brand first partnered with mental health charity Mind in 2019 through its ‘Let’s Talk’ campaign. Since then, the partnership has expanded through various Biscuit Break activations encouraging consumers to pause, check in with others and share conversations over tea and biscuits.
The campaign has also delivered commercially. During the 2023 Tesco-exclusive Biscuit Break promotion, McVitie’s said featured products recorded a 47% sales uplift, while customer engagement doubled during the campaign’s second year. The activation generated around 5m shopper impressions in store and has helped raise more than £570,000 for Mind since the partnership began.
In 2023, McVitie’s rolled out Biscuit Break branding across packs of Chocolate Digestives, Hobnobs and Penguins in 500 Tesco stores. Shoppers were encouraged to buy a pack for themselves and gift one to someone else. The campaign also included aisle signage, Tesco radio promotions and workplace wellbeing activities for Tesco staff.
The campaign increasingly frames the biscuit break as a chance to pause and reconnect during busy days. Reflecting that focus, McVitie’s has enlisted psychologist and The Traitors star Dr Ellie Buckley to front the latest phase of the Biscuit Break campaign.
“It’s often the smallest, most spontaneous moments – a quick chat over a cuppa and a biscuit, a shared pause between tasks – that can feel meaningful,” Dr Buckley said. “For many people these everyday interactions can help support a sense of connection, brighten a moment and gently strengthen relationships.”
Pippa Whybourne, marketing manager at McVitie’s, said the company wanted to remind people that connection doesn’t have to be carefully planned. “Connection can happen in those in-between moments – a biscuit break between meetings, a knock on a friend’s door or a simple ‘are you free now?’ message,” she said.
McVitie’s biscuit campaign’s strong sales performance suggests consumers still value the biscuit break itself. Whether they can actually find time for one is another matter.
