Golden Wonder is a British company that manufactures snack foods, most notably

crisps Potato chips (North American English and Australian English; often just chip) or crisp (British English and Hiberno-English) are thin slices of potato (or a thin deposit of potato paste) that has been deep fried, baked, or air fried until ...

. These include Ringos, Golden Wonder and Transform-A-Snack. Since 2006, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the Northern Irish company Tayto, purchased from

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

. Founded in 1947, by the 1960s Golden Wonder was the most popular crisp brand in Britain, overtaking Smiths. They were overtaken by Walkers who are the No.1 crisp brand in the UK.

History

The company was founded in 1947 by William Alexander, who owned a bakery in Stockbridge,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. He started making crisps in order to use spare capacity in the deep-fat fryers which he normally used to make doughnuts. The company was named after the Golden Wonder potato, which Alexander believed to be the best for making crisps. In 1952, the company moved to a purpose-built factory in

Sighthill Sighthill may refer to: * Sighthill, Edinburgh Sighthill is a suburb in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The area is bordered by Broomhouse, Edinburgh, Broomhouse and Parkhead, Edinburgh, Parkhead to the east, South Gyle to the north, the indu ...

. The company was bought by

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (originally the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain & Ireland, and subsequently Imperial Tobacco Group plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is ...

in 1961. By early 1960s, it was manufacturing crisps at three further sites, at

Broxburn Broxburn (, ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It is from the West End of Edinburgh, from Edinburgh Airport and to the north of Livingston. Originally a village known as Easter Strathbock in the medieval period, by 1600, the village ha ...

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

and

Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

. A site at Crumlin produced the "Pot Noodle". The company was acquired by United Kingdom-based

Dalgety plc Dalgety plc—as Dalgety and Company—was for more than a century a major pastoral and agricultural company or stock and station agency in Australia and New Zealand. Controlled from London it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and Austr ...

in March 1987 as part of owned by

's breakup by new owner

Hanson plc Heidelberg Materials UK is a British-based building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. Previously known as Hanson UK, the company has been a subsidiary of the German company HeidelbergCement since August 2007, and was formerly lis ...

. A fire at the Corby site in 1988 destroyed many historical documents and photographs of the company. In February 1992 Sooner Snacks, manufacturer of Nik Naks and Wheat Crunchies, was bought from Borden Inc. by

, with the company being absorbed into Golden Wonder. In 1995 Golden Wonder underwent a management buyout costing £54.6 million. In 2000

Bridgepoint Capital Bridgepoint Group plc is a British private investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Bridgepoint was founded as NatWest Equity Partners, a private equity firm part of NatWest. On ...

acquired the company for £156 million. In January 2006 the company was bought by Tayto, a company based in

Tandragee Tandragee () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is on a hillside above the Cusher River, and is overlooked by Tandragee Castle. The town is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Ballymore, County Armagh, Ballymore and t ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

. Its notable brands have included "Wotsits", "Ringos", "Jungle Fresh"

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

s and

Pot Noodle Pot Noodle is a brand of instant noodle snack foods from the United Kingdom, available in a selection of flavours and varieties. This dehydrated food consists of noodles, assorted dried vegetables and flavouring powder. It is prepared by adding ...

, which ceased to carry Golden Wonder branding after the brand (but not the manufacturing business itself) was sold to

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

. In July 1995

Best Foods Hellmann's and Best Foods are American brand names that are used for the same line of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, sauce, salad dressing, condiments and other food products. They have been owned by the British multinational company Unilever ...

paid

about $280 million for its Golden Wonder Pot Noodle instant hot snacks manufacturing business. Following the purchase by Tayto in 2006, the Nik Naks and Wheat Crunchies brands were 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 2022, they reached their 75th anniversary, one of the oldest crisp brands in Scotland.

Products

Golden Wonder launched the cheese & onion crisp flavour in 1962. Their first flavoured crisp, the concept was first devised by Tayto in Ireland in 1953. In the 1970s Golden Wonder produced a line of shell-shaped crisps called Rock 'n' Roller Crisps, named after that decade's

rock and roll revival The rock and roll revival was a back-to-basics musical trend of the late 1960s and early 1970s, in a sort-of backlash against the heavier and psychedelic rock sounds then in vogue. History As the Sixties ended, several early rock and rollers like ...

. They were available in salt & vinegar, cheese & onion and crispy bacon flavours. Golden Wonder ceased to make them in the 1980s. In the 1980s Golden Wonder claimed on television and on their packets to be ''Britain's Noisiest Crisp''. In the following decade a popular series of television adverts with adult actors indulging in childish antics carried another famous slogan: ''You'll never grow old in Golden Wonderland!''. In 2009 the Golden Wonder brand started to be used by Symingtons Ltd, under licence, for the production of The Nation's Noodle and The Nation's Pasta. The new range of instant noodles is similar to the

range, previously produced by Golden Wonder. Golden Wonder branding now features on snacks previously marketed by Red Mill, another snack manufacturer taken over by Tayto. Golden Wonder now produces a number of different flavours of potato crisp; it is also the current owner of the XL Crisp brand. Golden Wonder was the former owner of the

Wotsits Wotsits are a popular British brand of cheese-flavoured corn puffs produced by Walkers, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. They are known for their light, airy texture and orange hue. Originally launched by Golden Wonder in the 1970s, the snack is primar ...

brand, but when the company changed hands in May 2002 it was sold off separately to rival brand Walkers. Previous snacks Wheat Crunchies, Chips & Burgers and the corn based Nik Naks are now owned by KP.

Administration

Golden Wonder entered into

on 9 January 2006, threatening about 800 jobs. On 13 January 2006 it was announced that the

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

site and the contract for Mini Pringles, as produced by Golden Wonder, would transfer to Northern Irish crisp manufacturer Tayto. The announcement brought the news that 195 of 350 jobs would be saved initially. On 20 January 2006 it was announced that Tayto was to buy all Golden Wonder's operations in the United Kingdom including the

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Lincolnshire, England. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 167,446. T ...

site, although it would sell the Wheat Crunchies and Nik Naks brands to

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official site
1947 establishments in Scotland Brand name potato chips and crisps Companies based in the Borough of North Lincolnshire Food and drink companies established in 1947 Scottish brands Snack food manufacturers of the United Kingdom