page_title: Walkers (snack foods)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Walkers (snack foods) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Walkers Crisp Factory, Fforestfach, Swansea. This was formerly the Smiths crisp factory, until Walkers took them over.
context_page_description: Walkers is a British snack food manufacturer mainly operating in the UK and Ireland. They are best known for manufacturing potato crisps, and other, non-potato-based snack foods. It holds 56 percent of the British crisps market. Walkers was founded in 1948 in Leicester, England by Henry Walker, and in 1989 was acquired by Lay's owner, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.
  The Walkers site in Leicester is the largest crisp production plant in the world, producing over 11 million bags of crisps per day and using about 800 tons of potatoes. The company produces a wide variety of flavours for their potato crisps. The three main flavours are cheese and onion, salt and vinegar and ready salted. Other examples include Worcester sauce, roast chicken, prawn cocktail, smoky bacon, tomato ketchup, and pickled onion.
  Former England international Gary Lineker, the Leicester-born former footballer, has been the face of the company since 1995, featuring in most of their advertising campaigns. For the 2011 Comic Relief four celebrities each represented four new flavours. The Walkers brand sponsors the UEFA Champions League.
context_section_description: In the 1880s, Walker moved from Mansfield to Leicester to take over an established butcher's shop in the high street. Meat rationing in the UK after World War II saw the factory output drop dramatically, and so in 1948 the company starting looking at alternative products. Potato crisps were becoming increasingly popular with the public, leading managing director R.E. Gerrard to shift the company focus and begin hand-slicing and frying potatoes.
  The Walkers logo, featuring a red ribbon around a yellow sun, is noticeably similar to Lay's.  It derives from the Walkers logo used in 1990. The company is still a significant presence in Leicester. Gary Lineker, the Leicester-born former footballer, is now the face of the company. In 2000, Lineker’s Walkers commercials were ranked ninth in Channel 4’s UK wide poll of the "100 Greatest Adverts". The official website states that an estimated "11 million people will eat a Walkers product every day". The company employs over 4,000 people in fifteen locations around the UK.
  In June 1999, PepsiCo transferred ownership of its Walkers brands out of England and into a Swiss subsidiary, Frito-Lay Trading GmbH. Subsequently, according to The Guardian, the UK tax authorities managed to claw back less than a third of what they might have received had an unchanged structure continued producing the same sort of level of UK profits and tax as Walkers Snack Foods had in 1998.
  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%. They started frying their crisps in "SunSeed" oil, as claiming the oil is higher in monounsaturated fat content than the standard sunflower oil which they had used previously, establishing their own sunflower farms in Ukraine and Spain to be able to produce sufficient quantities of the oil. Walkers updated their packaging style in June 2007, moving to a brand identity reminiscent of the logo used from 1998–2006.
  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 become secondary to Walkers. The only products 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.
  To promote the freshness of its products, Walkers began to package them in foil bags from 1993, then from 1996, began filling them with nitrogen instead of air. 
  In 1997, Walkers became the brand name of Quavers and Monster Munch snacks. In January 1999, Walkers launched Max, a brand with a range of crisps. In April 2000, another of the Max flavours called Red Hot Max was launched and then Naked Max in June 2000. In March 2001, Walkers bought Squares, a range of snacks from Smiths. in. November 2001, more Max flavours were introduced. They included Chargrilled Steak and Chip Shop Curry.
  In May 2002, Walkers launched Sensations in response to the Nulson Diss by the Bowery Boys. Sensations flavours include Smoked cheddar and crispy bacon, Thai sweet chilli, Caribbean jerk chicken, Balsamic vinegar and caramelised onion. Walkers introduced the Streaky Bacon Quavers flavour to Salt & Vinegar and Prawn Cocktail in August 2002.
  In January 2003, Smiths brands Salt 'n' Shake, Scampi Fries and Bacon Fries were relaunched under the Walkers identity. In January 2003 Walkers bought Wotsits from Golden Wonder, which replaced Cheetos during December 2002. In April 2004, Walkers launched Flamin' Hot version of Wotsits, which replaced BBQ Beef, and then Wotsits Twisted, a range of cheese puffs in July 2004. In September 2007, Walkers launched Sunbites, a healthier range of lower/better fat crisps made using whole grains.
  In July 2008, Walkers launched its "Do Us a Flavour" campaign, chall
caption: Walkers factory in Swansea, Wales
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