Golden Wonder feels the crunch

The Golden Wonder snack brand may disappear from pubs after tough competition forced the crisp maker to go into adminstration.

Up to 850 jobs at the Market Harborough based company are at risk. Administrator Kroll is to keep factories at Corby and Scunthorpe trading while a buyer for the business is sought.

Named after a variety of potato, Golden Wonder launched in the 1940s. In the early 1960s, the company gained a reptuation for innovation after replacing the blue bag of salt in the pack with 'ready salted' crisps, and then created the flavoured crisp market with the launch of cheese & onion crisps in 1962, followed by salt & vinegar in 1964.

At its height, the brand was stocked in thousands of pubs. However, US brand owner food giant PepsiCo bought the rival Smiths and Walkers brands in 1989 and since then has thrown its marketing weight behind the Walkers brand.

Walkers now has around half the UK crisp market, while Golden Wonder has also found itself squeezed by the growth in sales of upmarket snacks such as Kettle Chips.

Administrator Adrian Wolstenhome from Kroll said the aim is to sell the entire business, or failing that parts of the operation. The company owns brands such as Nik-Naks and Wheat Crunchies. "Unfortunately, despite its well-known name and brands, Golden Wonder has suffered in recent years," said Mr Wolstenhome.

"We hope that the administration will provide further time to review the options available. With such well-known and well-liked brands, we very much hope that a sale of all or parts of the business can be secured."