Tayto, the Northern Irish crisp producer that has won the race to pick up Golden Wonder, has vowed to keep the iconic crisps brand alive.
John McQuaid, national sales manager for Tayto, told The Grocer that while the company would seek to explore opportunities for Tayto brands in Great Britain, it would not do so if it overlapped in areas where Golden Wonder was strong.
“Golden Wonder has an extremely strong heritage and its brands remain
strong in a number of key areas. Golden Wonder crisps perform well in Scotland and Ringos in the north west. We would be crazy not to use these strengths,” he said.
This week Tayto bought the Golden Wonder manufacturing facility at Scunthorpe and its brands, including Golden Wonder, Golden Skins, Golden Lights and Ringos, for an undisclosed sum.
As predicted by The Grocer (February 4, p6), United Biscuits has snapped up Nik Naks and Wheat Crunchies. Tayto sold the two brands to UB but will still manufacture both at Scunthorpe under a joint agreement. Last month Tayto bought the Golden Wonder plant at Corby, where it will make Pringles Minis under licence for Procter & Gamble.
McQuaid confirmed that the Golden Wonder own label business was a good fit with Tayto’s own label business, which includes a major contract to supply Tesco. He also said that the acquisition would give the group greater scale to develop its brands such as Tayto Fusion and Tayto Advantage.
Ronan Hegarty