Walkers

Overview

Walkers is a British snack food manufacturer mainly operating in the UK and Ireland. The company is best known for manufacturing crisps (potato chips) and other non-potato-based snack foods. As of 2013, it holds 56% of the British crisp market. Walkers was founded in 1948 in Leicester, England by Henry Walker. In 1989, Walkers was acquired by Lay’s owner, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.

The Walkers site in Leicester produces over 11 million bags of crisps per day, using about 800 tons of potatoes. According to the BBC television programme Inside the Factory, production of a bag of crisps takes approximately 35 minutes from the moment the raw potatoes are delivered to the factory, to the point at which finished product leaves the dispatch bay for delivery to customers. The company produces a wide variety of flavours for its potato crisps. The three main varieties are: Cheese and Onion (introduced in 1954), Salt and Vinegar (introduced in 1967) and Ready Salted. Other examples include: Worcester Sauce, Roast Chicken, Prawn Cocktail, Smoky Bacon, Tomato Ketchup, and Pickled Onion.

The Leicester-born former England international footballer Gary Lineker has been the face of the brand since 1995, featuring in most of its popular commercials and successful advertising campaigns. For the 2011 Comic Relief, four celebrities each represented four new flavours. The Walkers brand (under PepsiCo) sponsors the UEFA Champions League for the UK and Ireland markets. In 2019, Walkers reunited with the Spice Girls, with the 1990s girl band featuring in a campaign.

Since 2008, Walkers has launched its “Do Us a Flavour” campaign, challenging the British public to think up unique flavours for its crisps. Six flavours were chosen from among the entries and released as special editions. Consumers could vote on their favourite, and the winner would become a permanent flavour. In 2018, Walkers launched six new flavours to celebrate the brand’s seventieth birthday, with each flavour representing a different decade.