A new crisp brand has set its sights on supermarket listings after ousting Tyrrells from more than 100 Fuller’s pubs.
The London Crisp Company is the brainchild of Tom Lock, founder of the Awfully Posh brand of pork crackling. He said he saw a place for a brand with a more contemporary, urban image in contrast to the “rural and eccentric” brands he saw dominating the market.
Sold in 40g (rsp: £0.69) and 125g (rsp: £2.29) bags, the brand is available in five flavours: sea salt, salt & vinegar, cheese & onion, prawn cocktail and sweet chilli. The flavours are said to be inspired by Soho, Southbank, Shoreditch, Greenwich and Camden respectively, with imagery from these locations appearing on the bags. The packs were designed by Shoreditch-based B&B Studio and the crisps manufactured in West London.
Replacing Tyrrells crisps in 113 managed Fuller’s pubs within the M25 is the brand’s first listing, but Lock said he was in late-stage discussion with supermarket chains. While Fuller’s estate is largely in London and the South East, Lock said he was confident in growing the appeal of the brand outside its obvious heartland.
“We are hoping for an international presence,” he said. “London is the most visited city on earth so the export opportunities are limitless.
“We have created what we feel is a really unique and different proposition in an incredibly crowded hand-cooked crisp market. Where other hand-cooked crisp brands are rural, traditional, gourmet and eccentric, we are urban, contemporary, simple and cool.”
Total take-home crisps sales are down 1.7% to £923.3m, on volumes down 1.4% [Kantar 52 w/e 1 February 2015]. Among hand-cooked brands, Kettle Chips are down 3.3% to £97.1m, while Tyrrells are up 25.6% to £47.3m [IRI 52 w/e 28 February 2015].
Lock, a former Waitrose meat counter worker, established the Awfully Posh brand of pork crackling after leaving the retailer in 2009 – and went on to win a listing with his former employer three years later. The range, which includes Anglesey Sea Salt and Scorchingly Hot Chilli flavours, is also listed in Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Whole Foods Market. Lock has recently agreed a deal with Direct Brand Distributors to export the crackling to Australia.
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