Walkers (snack foods)

Infobox_Company
company_name = Walkers
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = 1880s
location = flagicon|UK Leicester, England, UK
industry = Snacks
products = See below
parent = Frito-Lay
homepage = [http://www.walkers.co.uk/ www.walkers.co.uk]

Walkers is a snack food manufacturer in Great Britain and Ireland best known for manufacturing crisps.

History

In the 1880s Henry Walker moved from Mansfield to Leicester to take over an established butcher's shop in the high street. Meat rationing after World War II saw the factory output drop dramatically and the company looked at alternatives to make use of the wasted capacity. With potato crisps being increasingly popular with the public, managing director R.E. Gerrard helped the company shift focus and began hand-slicing and frying potatoes.

Present day

Walkers is now owned by Frito-Lay, which in turn is a subsidiary of Pepsico. It is still a significant presence in Leicester and sponsor Leicester City football team's stadium, the Walkers Stadium. Gary Lineker, formerly a Leicester City footballer, is now the face of the company, starring in most of their advertising campaigns. The official website states that an estimated "11 million people will eat a Walkers product every day". The company employs over 4000 people in 15 locations.

In 2000, Walkers' 1995 advert starring Gary Lineker was named the ninth best television commercial of all time, in a poll conducted by "The Sunday Times" and Channel 4.

In February 2006, Walkers changed their brand label and typeset. They also announced they were to reduce the saturated fat in their crisps by 70%. [ [http://www.walkers-eathappy.co.uk/less_fat.html Walkers Crisps - Better for you | less saturated fat] ] They once again changed their packaging style in June 2007, rather similar to the logo used from 1998- 2006.

As of late 2006, the company has added nutrition values on the front of the Walkers crisps packets.

Many of Walkers brands were formerly branded under the Smiths Crisps name. This comes from the time when Walkers, Smiths and Tudor Crisps were the three main brands of Nabisco's UK snack division with Tudor being marketed mainly in the north of England and Walkers in the south. After the takeover by Pepsico the Tudor name was dropped and the Smiths brand has gradually been phased out in favour of Walkers.

The only products currently retaining the Smiths brand are Salt & Vinegar and Ready Salted Chipsticks, Frazzles and the "Savoury Selection", which includes Bacon Flavour Fries, Scampi Flavour Fries and Cheese Flavoured Moments.

In 1997, Walkers became the brand name of the Quavers and Monster Munch snacks.

In 2002 Walkers bought Wotsits from Golden Wonder.

In 2007 Walkers launched Sunbites, a range of crisps made using wholegrains. [ [http://www.sunbites.co.uk Sunbites website] ]

Notably, Walkers package their cheese and onion crisps in blue packets, and salt and vinegar in green. This is the opposite to most other crisp manufacturers, such as McCoys Crisps and Golden Wonder's traditional livery.

Product lines

Flavours (Packet Colours)

*BBQ Rib (Black)
*Cajun Spice (Salmon Pink)
*Cheddar Cheese (Orange)
*Cheese & Onion (Blue)
*Chilli & Lemon (Yellow/Red)
*Heinz Tomato Ketchup (Dark Red)
*Marmite (Yellow)
*Pickled Onion (Lime Green)
*Prawn Cocktail (Pink)
*Ready Salted (Red)
*Roast Chicken (Orange)
*Salt & Vinegar (Green)
*Smoky Bacon (Burgundy)
*Steak & Onion (Brown)
*Worcester Sauce (Purple)
*Ploughman's (Dark Green)
*Roast Gammon (Dark Pink)
*Sweet Cumberland Sausage (Dark Gold)
*Cheese & Jalapeño Toastie (Yellow/Green)
*Chicken Tikka (Dark Orange)

Variations

*Lights (formerly Lites) (Low fat)
**Salt and Vinegar
**Cheese and Onion
**Simply Salted (Ready Salted)
**Roast Chicken
**Sour Cream and Chive

*Potato Heads (Low fat with no artificial colours/flavourings/preservatives) (Walkers discontinued Potato Heads in 2008 [http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/779774/Walkers-abandons-Potato-Heads-line/] )
**Prawn Cocktail
**Cheese and Onion
**Ready Salted
**Roast Chicken
**Salt and Vinegar
*Cheese Heads (Similar to Potato Heads)
*Baked
**Cheese & Onion
**Ready Salted
**Salt & Vinegar
**Sour Cream & Onion (Limited Edition)
**Bacon & Cheddar
*Max
**Cheese and Onion
**Chargrilled Steak
**Paprika
*Salt 'n' Shake
**Original
*Sensations
**Gently Infused Salmon & Thai Spices
**Lamb with Moroccan Spices
**Oven Roasted Chicken with Lemon & Thyme
**Sea Salt
**Vintage Cheese & Onion Chutney
**Thai Sweet Chilli

"These flavours replaced the original Sensations flavours in the Spring of 2006. The original flavours were:"
**Chargrilled Steak & Pepper Sauce
**Four Cheese and Onion
**Oven Roast Chicken & Thyme
**Roast Lamb & Mint Sauce
**Roasted Onion & Balsamic Vinegar
**Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper
**Thai Sweet Chilli
*Sensations Oriental Crackers
*Sensations Poppadom Bites

Walkers discontinued Potato Heads in 2008 [http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/779774/Walkers-abandons-Potato-Heads-line/]

Pack sizes

4 common pack sizes.
*34.5g standard bags
*25g "multipack" bags
*50g (formerly 55g) "Big Eat" bags, produced primarily for the pub trade
*80g "Grab Bag" bags, mainly sold in cinemas and entertainment establishments

The 50g bag size for the pub trade was produced following a survey by Walkers regarding the average size of a social group in a pub, and the average number of crisps people would take when a bag was passed around; on average, the purchaser should be left with the same weight of crisps in their Big Eat bag after passing it around their friends as would be found in a standard 34.5g pack.

Other types of snack food

*Chipsticks
**Ready Salted
**Salt and Vinegar
*Doritos
**Cool Original
**Smoky Bacon
**Tangy Cheese
**Chilli Heatwave
**Dippas Lightly Salted
**Dippas Hint Of Lime
**Chilli Heatwave
**Collisions: T-bone steak & Green pepper
**Collisions: Chicken & Zesty salsa
*French Fries
**Cheese and Onion
**Salt and Vinegar
**Ready Salted
**Worcester Sauce
*Frazzles
**Bacon
*Squares
** Ready Salted
**Cheese and Onion
**Salt and Vinegar
*Quavers
**Cheese
**Prawn Cocktail (multipack only)
**Salt and Vinegar (multipack only)
**Salted (multipack only)
*Monster Munch
**Pickled Onion
**Flamin'Hot
**Roast Beef (multipack only)
*Wotsits
**Cheese
**Flamin'Hot (multipack only)
**Prawn Cocktail (multipack only)
*Snaps
**Spicy Tomato
*Sunbites
**Original
**Sour Cream & Cracked Black Pepper
**Oven roasted Onion & Rosemary

References

External links

* [http://www.walkers.co.uk/ Official site]
* [http://www.pepsico.co.uk/walkerscrisps Walkers Crisps page on PepsiCo UK & Ireland]