The name is derived from the original Scottish biscuit maker, McVitie & Price, Ltd., established in 1830 on Rose Street in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The company moved to various sites in the city before completing the St. Andrews Biscuit Works factory on Robertson Avenue in the Gorgie district in 1888.

[2] The company also established one in Glasgow and two large manufacturing plants south of the border, in Heaton Chapel, Stockport, and Park Royal, London.

There are five McVitie's factories in the UK, with each producing a different types of biscuit; the Harlesden site in north-west London manufactures the chocolate digestives.

[12] In 1881, his eldest son, also Robert (1854–1910), was in charge of the Queensferry Street business[13] while the other properties remained in his name until 1884 although he died in 1883.

In 1888, they built the huge St Andrews Biscuit Works on Robertson Avenue in the Gorgie district of south-west Edinburgh.

[18][19] Robert McVitie died married but childless in 1910 in Berkhamsted rather than at his home 12 Greenhill Gardens in south Edinburgh.

[2] McVitie & Price merged with another Scottish bakery company, Macfarlane, Lang & Co., Ltd, in 1948 to become United Biscuits Group.

[26] The biscuit was given its name because it was thought that its high baking soda content served as an aid to food digestion.

[28] In 1924, Ramsay MacDonald, prime minister of Britain's new Labour Government, admitted that Grant had given him a Daimler car and £30,000 of shares in McVitie's.

Over 71 million packets of McVitie's chocolate digestives are eaten in the United Kingdom each year, equating to 52 biscuits per second.

[25] In June 2014, McVitie's announced their intention to make 157 shop floor roles redundant at their Stockport manufacturing facility.

[4] In 2022, McVitie's ended 192 years of heritage and closed their last factory in Scotland, completely cutting ties with the brand's Scottish roots.