aid in this. He was employed as foreman of the bakery but left to set up his own bakery in Inverness but this failed and he returned to McVitie's. In 1875 the company had been joined by Charles Edward Price as a salesman. His success in this role led to a partnership in 1888 to create McVitie & Price. In 1888 they built the huge St Andrews Biscuit Works on Robertson Avenue in the Gorgie district of south-west Edinburgh. Price left in 1910 following the death of Robert. In 1891 the London salesman for the company George Andrews Brown persuaded the company to redesign their Rich Tea biscuit to a smaller size to accommodate the London taste. In 1898 McVitie rebranded the company McVities Guest after joining with his brother-in-law Edward Graham Guest. In 1903 they built the renowned McVities Guest Tearoom at 135/136 Princes Street. The original Gorgie factory burned down in 1894, but was rebuilt the same year to a much improved technical standard. It remained operative until 1969 when production ceased and operations were transferred to the English sites which had been established at Harlesden, north-west London in 1902 which is the largest biscuit factory in the UK, and Manchester in 1914. Robert McVitie died married but childless in 1910 in Berkhamsted rather than at his home 12 Greenhill Gardens in south Edinburgh. He is commemorated in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. Prior to death he set up the company (retaining the name McVitie's) as a limited company placing Alexander Grant as managing director and principal share-holder. The firm acquired the Edinburgh bakery of Simon Henderson & Sons in 1922. McVitie & Price merged with another Scottish bakery company, Macfarlane, Lang & Co., Ltd, in 1948 to become United Biscuits Group. McVitie's brand products are now manufactured in five United Kingdom factories: the two former McVitie & Price factories in Harlesden and Stockport, a former Macfarlane, Lang & Co. factory named Victoria Biscuit Works in Glasgow, a former Carr's factory named The Biscuit Works established 1831 in Carlisle, and the McVitie's Cake Co. factory (formerly Riley's Toffee Works) in Halifax. McVitie & Price's first major biscuit was the McVitie's digestive, created in 1892 by a new young employee at the company named Alexander Grant. The biscuit was given its name because it was thought that its high baking soda content served as an aid to food digestion. Grant