You can take the crisps out of Yorkshire, but you can't take the Yorkshire out of the crisps. Nicolette Allen reports on a regional business with international aspirations
Yorkshire Crisps are not just Yorkshire by name. Everything that goes into the crisps is sourced regionally, except the Spanish sunflower oil – Yorkshire weather being incompatible with sunflower production. Distribution, too, is focused primarily on the county.
“If we didn’t sell a single crisp outside Yorkshire, it wouldn’t upset me,” claims founder Tony Bishop, who set up The Yorkshire Crisp Company in 2005, having tried and failed to buy a crisp business at auction three years before. “We have enough business to sustain us here and it’s fundamental that we keep the region central to the brand — Yorkshire has an earthy credibility that lends itself perfectly to food.”
That said, his premium crisps are gaining a wider audience by the day. They are sold at farmers’ markets in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and to foodservice and various independent retailers across the UK.
Key customers include Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, while the company is the sole supplier to all Andrew Lloyd Webber theatres. Since last October, the company has also supplied Morrisons, and in February it began supplying Sainsbury's – though in both cases only in Y0rkshire.
“We have no aversion to doing business with anybody who demonstrates they truly treat their suppliers properly,” says Bishop. A good thing, too, as far as the company’s performance goes. Yorkshire Crisps is now a household name in Bishop’s county of birth. In the year ending December 2008, sales rose 27% to just under £1m.
It is quality as well as provenance that Bishop believes separates the brand from its larger competitors – and this quality is reflected in the price. An rsp of £2 for 100g drums and 80p for 50g bags begs the question of whether consumers will be willing to loosen purse strings that far in the current economic climate.
It’s too early to assess the impact of the credit crunch on sales, says Bishop. “We simply don’t know yet. I’m fairly confident we’ll manage to hold on to our sales, though. Consumers are likely to still want to pay less than £1 for a luxury item they know and trust.”
Where the weak economy might play into Bishop’s hands is in its export business. The crisps are already exported to Denmark, Spain, France and Norway – a first shipment has just been sent to Dubai, and there is significant interest from the US market. Although Bishop concedes a world in which all produce is made locally isn’t viable, he’s not entirely comfortable with the sustainability ramifications of having an export business.
“I’m not being ethical by sending cargoes of crisps out to Dubai,” he admits. “Ideally, we should produce the crisps out there with local ingredients, to fit in with the codes we believe in.”
Bishop may not be one of the biggest crisps producers around, but he certainly remains one of the most principled.
Yorkshire Crisps are not just Yorkshire by name. Everything that goes into the crisps is sourced regionally, except the Spanish sunflower oil – Yorkshire weather being incompatible with sunflower production. Distribution, too, is focused primarily on the county.
“If we didn’t sell a single crisp outside Yorkshire, it wouldn’t upset me,” claims founder Tony Bishop, who set up The Yorkshire Crisp Company in 2005, having tried and failed to buy a crisp business at auction three years before. “We have enough business to sustain us here and it’s fundamental that we keep the region central to the brand — Yorkshire has an earthy credibility that lends itself perfectly to food.”
That said, his premium crisps are gaining a wider audience by the day. They are sold at farmers’ markets in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and to foodservice and various independent retailers across the UK.
Key customers include Fortnum & Mason, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, while the company is the sole supplier to all Andrew Lloyd Webber theatres. Since last October, the company has also supplied Morrisons, and in February it began supplying Sainsbury's – though in both cases only in Y0rkshire.
“We have no aversion to doing business with anybody who demonstrates they truly treat their suppliers properly,” says Bishop. A good thing, too, as far as the company’s performance goes. Yorkshire Crisps is now a household name in Bishop’s county of birth. In the year ending December 2008, sales rose 27% to just under £1m.
It is quality as well as provenance that Bishop believes separates the brand from its larger competitors – and this quality is reflected in the price. An rsp of £2 for 100g drums and 80p for 50g bags begs the question of whether consumers will be willing to loosen purse strings that far in the current economic climate.
It’s too early to assess the impact of the credit crunch on sales, says Bishop. “We simply don’t know yet. I’m fairly confident we’ll manage to hold on to our sales, though. Consumers are likely to still want to pay less than £1 for a luxury item they know and trust.”
Where the weak economy might play into Bishop’s hands is in its export business. The crisps are already exported to Denmark, Spain, France and Norway – a first shipment has just been sent to Dubai, and there is significant interest from the US market. Although Bishop concedes a world in which all produce is made locally isn’t viable, he’s not entirely comfortable with the sustainability ramifications of having an export business.
“I’m not being ethical by sending cargoes of crisps out to Dubai,” he admits. “Ideally, we should produce the crisps out there with local ingredients, to fit in with the codes we believe in.”
Bishop may not be one of the biggest crisps producers around, but he certainly remains one of the most principled.
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