Walkers (snack foods)

Walkers Snack Foods Limited, trading as Walkers, is a British snack food manufacturer operating in the Great Britain and Ireland markets. The company manufactures potato crisps and snack foods both under its own brand and others, and are the largest crisp manufacturer in Britain. Walkers was founded in 1948 in Leicester, England, by Henry Walker. The Walkers family sold the business in 1970 to American food producer Standard Brands. Since 1989, Walkers has been under ownership of PepsiCo, owners of US snack brand Frito-Lay.

The Walkers factory in Leicester, the largest crisp production plant in the world, produces over 11 million bags of crisps per day, using about 800 tons of potatoes. According to the BBC television programme Inside the Factory, production of a bag of crisps takes approximately 35 minutes from the moment the raw potatoes are delivered to the factory, to the point at which finished product leaves the dispatch bay for delivery to customers. The company sells its namesake Walkers crisps in a variety of flavours, the main three of which are Cheese and Onion (introduced in 1954), Salt and Vinegar (introduced in 1967) and Ready Salted. In addition, Walkers also produce other bagged snacks in its sub-brands including Quavers, Sensations, Wotsits and Monster Munch, and they also produce Doritos among its non-Walkers branded snacks.

The Leicester-born former England international footballer Gary Lineker has been the face of the brand since 1995, featuring in most of its popular commercials and successful advertising campaigns. Walkers has sponsored several events in the British and Irish markets such as the UEFA Champions League and the Super Cup. The company employs over 4,000 people in 15 locations around the UK and the official Walkers website states that an estimated "11 million people will eat a Walkers product every day".