Nik Naks are a type of
extruded
Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex c ...
corn snack
Corn snacks are snack foods made from corn (maize). They are often marketed, packaged and flavoured in a similar way to potato crisps.
Extruded
Extruded corn snacks come in "puffed" and "crunchy" varieties. They include:
* Puffcorn
** Cheese ...
previously manufactured by
Sooner Foods in Scunthorpe, England. The snack was introduced as Crunchy Wotsits, with a cheese flavour, in 1981. The brand was purchased by
Golden Wonder
Golden Wonder is a British company that manufactures snack foods, most notably crisps. These include Ringos, Golden Wonder and Transform-A-Snack. Since 2006, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Northern Irish company Tayto, after bei ...
in 1987 and then sold to
United Biscuits
United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In ...
in 2006. In December 2012, United Biscuits agreed to sell the
KP Snacks
KP Snacks is a British producer of branded and own-label maize-, potato-, and nut-based snacks, "Choc Dips" and nuts. The ''KP'' stands for “Kenyon Produce”. The company is based in Slough, England, UK.
History
The company was founded in ...
brand, including Nik Naks, to the
European Intersnack Group
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
. , Nik Naks are made in three flavours (all of the format "X 'n' Y") with different colour packaging for each.
Flavours
The original flavour when Nik Naks first appeared was Cheese (Yellow bag) and was formerly called Crunchy
Wotsits
Wotsits is a British brand of cheese flavoured corn puffs sold first by Golden Wonder and now by Walkers Crisps. The most common form is the "Really Cheesy" flavour of corn puffs. Other shapes and flavours have also been sold, including limited ...
.
They are now available in three flavours:
* Nice 'n'
Spicy
Pungency () refers to the taste of food commonly referred to as spiciness, hotness or heat, found in foods such as chili peppers. Highly pungent tastes may be experienced as unpleasant. The term piquancy () is sometimes applied to foods with a l ...
(Orange bag)
*
Rib 'n'
Saucy (Purple bag)
* Scampi 'n' Lemon (Green bag)
In the mid 1990s, the flavours were Nice 'n' Spicy, Cream 'n' Cheesy, Scampi 'n' Lemon and Rib 'n' Saucy. A tomato flavoured edition was also briefly sold. The packaging of the Scampi 'n' Lemon contained an ironic "Stifle The Stink" statement encouraging consumers to bin the packaging responsibly, however Rib 'n' Saucy ultimately replaced Scampi 'n' Lemon in order to remove any stigma about the flavour; sales of Nik Naks grew by 32% once the "smelly" flavour was removed. At some point a Hard Cheese flavour was introduced and later discontinued.
On Valentine's Day 1994, Golden Wonder released limited edition Naughty 'n' Saucy flavour Nik Naks (and for a limited time a Tomato and Mayonnaise flavour) containing an "aphrodisiac" ingredient (0.01%
Guarana
Guaraná ( from the Portuguese ''guaraná'' ), ''Paullinia cupana'', syns. ''P. crysan, P. sorbilis'') is a climbing plant in the family Sapindaceae, native to the Amazon basin and especially common in Brazil. Guaraná has large leaves and cl ...
Seed extract.). This experiment was repeated in 2005, when they launched a new limited edition Naughty 'n' Saucy flavour including what was "claimed to be the first savoury snack to contain the Chinese herb Ginseng, said to help boost the libido"
Scampi 'n' Lemon made a comeback in 2002, just before being sold to KP and United Biscuits. The Scampi 'n' Lemon then replaced the Cream 'n' Cheesy flavour in multipacks from 2006. From 2008, the Scampi 'n' Lemon flavour was phased out to make room for the new Pickle 'n' Onion flavour. However, Scampi 'n' Lemon remains in multipacks. Pickle 'n' Onion flavour has since been discontinued.
Despite its name, Scampi 'n' Lemon flavour Nik Naks has never contained fish or animal products. Since its relaunch in 2018, the product is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans because the flavourings are synthetic.
Advertising
The brand ran a notable advertising campaign in the '90s created by animator
Bill Plympton
Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946) is an American animator, graphic designer, cartoonist, and filmmaker best known for his 1987 Academy Awards-nominated animated short '' Your Face'' and his series of shorts featuring a dog character starting wit ...
, based on his short film ''Push Comes to Shove'', in which two men's heads transform into a variety of shapes. This was subsequently followed up by 5 second adverts describing how ugly the snack was. In 1993, the brand ran an instant win promotion giving away rubbish. Such things as tummy fluff, a 2p piece and bits of string were given away.
During 2004–5, its advertising led with the tag line 'Eat the Freak', coined due to their odd appearance. One commercial, set on a cross-Channel ferry, was a modern parody of the sci-fi classic ''
Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'', wherein a passenger eats a Nik Nak only to have it explode from his stomach and begin dancing to "
Le Freak
"Le Freak" is a 1978 funk / disco song by American R&B band Chic. It was the band's third single and first ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B number-one hit song. Along with the tracks " I Want Your Love" and "Chic Cheer", "Le Freak" scored number ...
" by
Chic
Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick.
Etymology
'' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English diction ...
.
Branding dispute
In 2014, the UK brand of Nik Naks was involved in a copyright and branding dispute with the South African brand of the same name,
NikNaks, manufactured by Simba Chips. KP Snacks informed importers of the South African brand into the United Kingdom to stop all imports due to the same name the two different products share.
See also
*
List of brand name snack foods
This is a list of brand name snack foods. A snack or snack food is a portion of food often smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fr ...
*
Cheetos
Cheetos (formerly styled as Chee-tos until 1998) is a crunchy corn puff snack brand made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the U.S. The initi ...
References
{{reflist
External links
KP Snacks
Brand name snack foods
British snack foods
United Biscuits brands