 | |
| Company type | Proprietary company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | 1920 in Cricklewood, England (UK branch). 13 May 1932 (Australia branch) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , Australia |
Area served | Oceania United Kingdom |
| Products | Snack foods, potato chips |
| Parent | PepsiCo |
| Website | smiths-chips.com.au |
The Smith's Snackfood Company is a British-Australian snack food brand owned by the American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation PepsiCo. It is best known for its brand of potato crisps. The company was founded by Frank Smith and Jim Viney in the United Kingdom in 1920 as Smith's Potato Crisps Ltd, originally packaging a twist of salt with its crisps in greaseproof paper bags which were sold around London.[1] The dominant brand in the UK until the 1960s when Golden Wonder took over with Cheese & Onion, Smith's countered by creating Salt & Vinegar flavour (first tested by their north-east England subsidiary Tudor) which was launched nationally in 1967.[2]
After establishing the product in the UK, Smith set up the company in Australia in 1932. Both versions of Smiths have had various owners, but were reunited under PepsiCo ownership, with the UK business being purchased in 1989, and the Australian business in 1998.[3] Smith's Snackvend Stand is the branch of the company that operates vending machines.[4] The Smith's brand in the United Kingdom is now a sub-brand of the main Walkers brand, while in Australia, Smiths is the main brand.
- ^ "Potato Crisps - A History". BBC. 7 December 2006. Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Salt&Vinegarwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Northwestern journal of international law & business. p. 277.
- ^ Hospitality Foodservice. p. 36.