Golden Wonder

:"This article is about the company; for the potato see Golden Wonder potato; for the aquarium fish see Striped panchax"Golden Wonder is a British company that manufactures snack foods, most notably crisps. Founded in 1947 by the Scottish bakery owner William Alexander, the company was named after the Golden Wonder potato (which, ironically, is unsuitable for using in the production of potato crispsFact|date=January 2008). The company's notable brands have included "Jungle Fresh" peanuts and Pot Noodle, which ceased to carry Golden Wonder branding after the brand was sold to Unilever in July 1995, when BestFoods paid U.K.-based Dalgety PLC about $280 million for its Golden Wonder Pot Noodle instant hot snacks business. [ [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Bestfoods-Company-History.html "Bestfoods -- Company History"] , fundinguniverse.com, retrieved 3 July, 2008]

Products

Golden Wonder now produce a number of different flavours of potato crisp. They are also the current owners of the XL Crisp brand. Golden Wonder were the former owners of the Wotsits brand, but when the company changed hands in 2002, it was sold off separately to their rival Walkers. [ [http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2002/5/28/157054.html "Golden Wonder sold"] , theargus.co.uk, article dated 28 May, 2002, retrieved 27 October, 2006.] Previous snacks Wheat Crunchies and the corn based Nik Naks are now owned by KP. [ [http://www.unitedbiscuits.com/80256C1A0047922E/vWeb/pcKEYL5DXFHV "United Biscuits - Suitable for Vegetarians (List of United Biscuits / KP Brands suitable for vegetarians)"] , unitedbiscuits.com, retrieved 3 July,2008]

The company launched the Cheese & Onion crisp flavour in 1962. This was their first flavoured crisp, the concept having been devised by Tayto (Ireland) in 1953.

In the 1980s Golden Wonder claimed on television and on their packets to be "Britain's Noisiest Crisp".

Administration

Golden Wonder entered into administration on 9 January 2006, threatening 800+ jobs. [* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4595678.stm "Golden Wonder in administration"] , BBC, 9 January, 2006] On 13 January 2006 it was announced that the Corby site and the contract to Mini Pringles, as produced by Golden Wonder, would transfer to Tayto (NI) Ltd. It was reported that this was intended, according to various stories, to give Tayto the scope to develop their expanding business. The announcement brought the news that 195 of 350 jobs would be saved initially.

On 20 January 2006Fact|date=January 2008, it was announced that Tayto was to buy all Golden Wonder's UK operations, though would sell the Wheat Crunchies and Nik Naks brands to United Biscuits. Tayto stated that they would keep Golden Wonder's factories in Corby and Scunthorpe.

References

External links

* [http://www.goldenwonder.com Official site]