Smith's is a snack food brand owned byPepsiCo, best known for its brand ofpotato crisps. In the United Kingdom, where the business initially started, it is now a sub-brand made by PepsiCo subsidiaryWalkers Snack Foods, while in Australia, The Smith's Snackfood Company is the PepsiCo subsidiary that manufacturers and sells its crisp products.[1]
The company was founded in the United Kingdom in 1920 by Frank Smith and Jim Viney, originally packaging a twist of salt with its crisps in greaseproof paper bags which were sold around London.[2] Incorporated as aprivate limited company in 1930,[3] Smith's became the dominant brand of crisps in Britain[4] and remained so until the 1960s whenGolden Wonder took over with Cheese & Onion, Smith's countered by creatingSalt & Vinegar flavour (first tested by their north-east England subsidiaryTudor) which was launched nationally in 1967.[5] Smith's came under common ownership withWalkers in 1982.[6]
After establishing the product in his home country, Smith set up the company in Australia in 1932 and the Netherlands in 1958. All three Smiths companies underwent various owners, but were reunited under PepsiCo ownership, with the UK business being purchased in 1989, the Dutch business in 1992 and the Australian business in 1998.[7] The Smith's brand is no longer active today inBenelux, and was replaced by theLay's brand in 2001.
Smith's Potato Crisps (Ltd.) was formed by entrepreneurs Frank Smith and Jim Viney in the United Kingdom afterWorld War I.[8] Smith had been a manager for aSmithfield wholesale grocery business which soldpotato crisps from 1913. Deciding to make his own, Smith converted garages inCricklewood, London, into a crisp factory, selling to local businesses. By 1920, he had 12 full-time employees and was producing half a million packets a week.[8] Smith conceived the idea of selling unseasoned potato crisps with a small blue sachet of salt that could be sprinkled over them.[9] In 1927, after buying Jim Viney's share of the business, the company expanded into a factory inBrentford, London. In 1929, Smiths had seven factories in the UK and the following year it was incorporated as aprivate limited company.[3] By 1934, 200 million packets of crisps were sold in Britain each year, 95 percent of which were manufactured by Smith's. In 1939, the footballers ofPortsmouth won thelast FA Cup final before the war on a daily diet of Smith's crisps.[8] During World War II, crisps were packed into British troop ships and sent off to allied forces.[8] In the 1950s, fictional matriarchDoris Archer from BBC Radio'sThe Archers published a cookbook advocating the use of “delicious Smith's potato crisps, crushed to farthing size” in various meals.[8]
By 1956, the company was making 10 million packets every week. In 1960, Smith's purchased northern rivalTudor Crisps for £1 million.[10][11] Smith's followed up this expansion two years later by purchasing the biscuit and wafer producer G & T Bridgewater and theCardiff-based nut company Snackpak Food Products.[12] Following the creation of Cheese & Onion flavour byTayto in Ireland,Golden Wonder (Smiths' main competitor in Britain) produced their Cheese & Onion version, and Smith's countered with Salt & Vinegar (tested first by their north-east England subsidiary Tudor) which launched nationally in 1967, starting a two-decade-long flavour war.[5][13]
In 1966, Smith's was purchased by the American food producerGeneral Mills[14] and led to the legal renaming of Smith's Potato Crisps toSmith's Food Group in 1967 and a new head office inKew.[15] Smith's launched a ‘Do The Crunch' advertising campaign; in 1967 a youngPhil Collins toured the UK teaching people the crunch dance.[16] Aimed at children,Monster Munch were launched by Smiths in Britain in 1977. Originally called "The Prime Monster" (a play onThe Prime Minister, and as part of a wider campaign), they were renamed "Monster Munch" in 1978.[17] In 1978, Smith's was sold by its parent company, General Mills, to the British biscuit giantAssociated Biscuits.[18]
Associated Biscuits was purchased byNabisco in 1982, bringing Smith's under the same ownership as rivalWalkers.[6] In 1988,RJR Nabisco was purchased in a leverage buyout byKohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, and to reduce debt several business were sold to French conglomerateBSN, who quickly sold on Smith's and Walkers toPepsiCo in 1989.[19][20] At the time Walkers had a third of the crisp market in the United Kingdom, while Smith's had a third of the extruded snacks market, making them the market leader.[21] In 1990, Smith's launched the PepsiCo productCheetos, selling the product for 10 years before it was dropped.[22] Subsequently, PepsiCo partially withdrew the Smith's brand, in favour of fellow British brand Walkers, which was heavily marketed by PepsiCo in a campaign using former England international footballer turned television presenterGary Lineker.[23] Many of the products previously marketed by Smith's became labelled as Walkers, such asQuavers.[22]
In 2013, PepsiCo added two new products to the Smith's range, Twisted Flamin Hot and Wafflers Bacon flavour, which was seen as the value brand against the main line Walkers brand.[24] In October 2025, it was announced that production of Snaps at the Newark Road factory in Lincoln would end.[25]
After establishing the product and name in the UK, Frank Smith moved to set up a subsidiary in Australia.[29] Smith's Crisps were first manufactured in Australia in 1931 with an associate, George Ensor, in leased premises inSydney'sSurry Hills. They were originally made in 20 gas fired cooking pots, then packed by hand and distributed byNestle confectionery vans.[30]
Smith's Potato Crisps sold its early crisps in threepenny packets, 24 to a tin. "Twist of salt" sachets were included before pre-salting had been introduced. In March 1932, Smith's Potato Crisps Ltd. went into voluntary liquidation as a result of theGreat Depression. However, three months later, George Ensor tendered for the business put up for sale by the liquidators, and on 13 May 1932, Smith's Potato Crisps (Australia) was formed with the UK Smith's Company holding a majority interest over minor shareholders. Growth afterWorld War II was rapid, so a continuous cooker process was introduced to replace the individual cooking pots and in 1960 the production of a oneshilling pack for cinemas and a box pack for four shillings was initiated.[citation needed]
In 1961, Smith's introduced its first flavoured chip – chicken. It was a very popular flavour, influencing most competitors at the time to adopt a Chicken variation. Other flavours released were Original (Pre-Salted) and Salt & Vinegar. Later, in the 1970s, Barbecue was added as a flavour for Smiths crinkle cut chips, and in the 1980s Cheese & Onion was added. These five flavours—Original Salted (blue packet), Salt & Vinegar (magenta packet), Chicken (green packet), Barbecue (orange packet) and Cheese & Onion (yellow packet—have remained the mainstay flavours of the brand since the 1980s. Many other 'limited edition' variants have also been tried over the years. During the late 1980s, the company introduced the famous advertising mascotGobbledok, a chip-obsessed alien character similar to the popular charactersE.T. andALF.[31][32]
In 1968, Associated Products and Distribution Pty Ltd (APD), the food group holding company in British Tobacco Co. (Aust), bought a 41.5% share of Smith's Potato Crisps (Australia)'s parent company, including all Australian shareholders. Over the next 20 years, other takeovers and new products (includingTwisties andBurger Rings brands) drove growth. In 1990, the APD name was replaced by CCA Snackfoods.[citation needed] In January 1993, CCA Snackfoods (then owned byCoca-Cola Amatil) was sold toUnited Biscuits of Britain and was renamed to Smith's Snackfood Company.[33]
As of 1998, the Smith's Snackfood company was Australia's largest producer of salty snack foods. It was acquired in August of that year byFrito-Lay, the second largest producer of salt snack foods in Australia, which is in turn owned by PepsiCo.[34] Frito-Lay's Australian business was merged into Smiths, including its brands Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Ruffles and Tostitos.[35] To prevent theAustralian Competition & Consumer Commission from intervening for unfair trading practices Frito-Lay divested a range of brands, manufacturing facilities, including plants inWestern Australia,South Australia,New South Wales andVictoria. The package was namedSnack Brands Australia and was sold toDollar Sweets Holdings. In that package included the brands sold wereCC's,Cheezels,Thins andSamboy.
Despite Australians using the term "chips" for crisps, Smith's called their product crisps until as late as 2003. They are now labelled as Smith's Chips.[36] As of 2010–2011, portions contained in "large" bags of Smith's Snackfood products have diminished, down from 200g to 175g (approximately equal to the previous 1975 large size of 6½oz).[37]
Smith's Snackvend Stand is the branch of the company that operatesvending machines.[38]
Products produced by The Smith's Snackfood Company have been recalled on several occasions, including:
On three occasions, February 2007,[39] December 2008[40] and June 2009,[41] the Crinkle Cut chips were recalled after rubber pieces were discovered in packets.
On two occasions, in October 2022[42] and May 2023,[43] the Crinkle Cut chips were recalled after plastic pieces were discovered in packets.
In July 2016, The Smith's Snackfood Company was fined $10,800 by theAustralian Competition & Consumer Commission for misleading representation on its Sakata Paws Pizza Supreme Rice Snacks, which included a logo with the words “Meets School Canteen Guidelines” and an image of a sandwich and apple. The disclaimer that the product had only met the 'Amber' criteria of the National Healthy School Canteens Guidelines were in small font and on the other side of the packaging to the logo. Smith's has since removed the logo from the product.[44]
Parker's – Australia's largest pretzel company – typicalhard pretzels and a variety of uniquely flavoured pretzels, including flavours such asTomato & Basil &Sweet Chili.
Red Rock Deli[45] – Thick-sliced premium potato chips.
Frank Smith, working together with local farmers, opened a Dutch branch company inBroek op Langedijk in 1958. The new factory produced Smith's crisps with local potatoes.[48] Gerrit Kistemaker is credited for bringing crisps into the country having learnt how to make them from Smith himself.[49] Because of difficult pronunciation of the word "Crisps" and to avoid confusion, the products were named and marketed in the Netherlands as "Smiths Chips" (reflecting the commonAmerican English term).[48] The Dutch company was purchased by the AmericanGeneral Mills in 1967 a year after it bought the British company and its legal name later changed from Smith's Potato Crisps Holland N.V. to Smiths Food Group B.V.
Smiths introduced the curly Wokkels chips for the first time in 1974.[50]
Final logo used for Smiths in Netherlands and Belgium
In 1992, General Mills (owner of the Dutch Smith's) entered into a joint venture withPepsiCo, combining their businesses in continental Europe under the name Snack Ventures Europe (PepsiCo acquired a 60% stake in this joint venture, and General Mills the remaining 40%) with headquarters inMaarssen. General Mills also had operations in Belgium and France, whereas PepsiCo had operations in Spain, Portugal and Greece (where they marketed theDoritos andCheetos brands).[51] General Mills sold its part in the joint venture to PepsiCo in 2005.[52]
In 1995, Smiths caused afad when the company included put collectibles calledFlippo's in crisp bags. They were highly popular in the Netherlands and Belgium over the next two years.[53][54]
The Smiths potato chips was marketed in the Netherlands and Belgium until January 2001 when the brand was replaced by the global nameLay's.[55] The brand continued to be used for the other chips snack products (such asBugles, Hamka's and Wokkels), and Smiths Food Group B.V. remained the legal name of the company, marketing and selling all PepsiCo brands in the Netherlands. In December 2010 the company's legal name changed over to PepsiCo Nederland B.V. (and PepsiCo BeLux)[56] and in 2016 the remaining Smiths branded snacks were rebranded to the umbrella brand Lay's or to Cheetos, ending the Smiths brand in this market after more than 50 years.[57]
French Fries – Small crisp potatoes straws similar in appearance and taste tofrench fries – now owned and manufactured bySnack Brands Australia and under theWalkers name.
Full Monty – The flavour was inspired by the 1997 British film. The flavour was likely based onbaked potatoes with cream cheese, onion, sour cream, bacon, garlic, and cheddar cheese as the components.[68]
Hamka's – Ham and cheese crisps in the Netherlands, now sold under theLay's name.[69]
Jackets – Manufactured during the mid-1980s, these were crisps where the potatoes had not been peeled, leaving potato skin around the edges. There was an advert which featured dancing potatoes singing "We want to be jackets" in falsetto voices, and the slogan "So good, every potato wants to be one".[70]
