Adventure
Walkers Crisps
Inside the Factory Behind Britain’s Favourite Snack
As a child, I loved watching Play School. Some of you may remember it – and if you do, you’ll probably remember the wonderful segment where the camera took you through a series of windows, showing short films about how everyday things, including food, were made.
Go behind the scenes at Walkers Crisps and discover how British potatoes become millions of packets in just 30 minutes.
My years working on ITV’s This Morning gave me the opportunity to do much the same thing, although sadly without the windows, the cuddly toys and probably rather less singing.
Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to visit food factories all over the UK and abroad. I’ve made Turkish delight in Istanbul, seen Roquefort cheese and Dijon mustard being produced in France, visited a salmon cannery on a tiny island in Alaska and watched paprika being milled in Szeged, Hungary.
Closer to home, I’ve been behind the scenes at Cadbury’s making Crème Eggs, McVitie’s filming ginger nuts, cheese crackers and Hobnobs, and more recently Heinz baked beans.
So, when Walkers Crisps got in touch and invited me to see how their crisps are made, I jumped at the chance.
And I wasn’t disappointed.
From butcher’s shop to crisp empire
There’s actually a rather good story behind Walkers. The company was founded in 1948 by butcher Henry Walker, at a time when food rationing meant meat was in desperately short supply.
Being a butcher without enough meat to sell wasn’t particularly useful, so Henry looked for another way of making a living. He started slicing potatoes thinly, frying them and adding a little salt.
Simple, really.
And from that very humble beginning came one of the biggest crisp operations in the world.
What struck me immediately was the sheer scale of the operation. Walkers uses 100% British potatoes, sourced from farms across the UK, and around 25–27 tonnes arrive at the factory every day.
That is a lot of potatoes.
And before you even get anywhere near a packet of crisps, there is a surprising amount of work involved.
The potatoes are washed, checked and graded, with only the best specimens making it through. I found that particularly interesting because we tend to think of a crisp as a fairly humble little thing. Yet behind every bag is a pretty impressive piece of food production.
And, believe me, the machinery is something else.
“From humble British potatoes, Walkers creates an astonishingly clever national snack.”
Slicing potatoes at astonishing speed
Once the potatoes have been selected, they are sliced incredibly thinly. Exactly how Walkers achieves that particular thickness is, understandably, a trade secret.
Even the blades are treated with remarkable care. They are changed every 90 minutes to maintain consistency, because when you’re producing crisps on this scale, a tiny variation can make a big difference.
And get this: it takes less than a second to slice a potato.
I find that sort of thing fascinating.
As someone who has spent years cooking, I’m used to watching what happens in a pan, adjusting temperatures, tasting sauces and judging things by eye. Here, everything is happening at an extraordinary speed and with astonishing precision.
The sliced potatoes then head into enormous fryers, where they are cooked until crisp before being drained on a conveyor belt.
But they’re not finished yet.
While they are still warm, the crisps are gently tumbled through huge rollers. A small amount of oil is sprayed over them, followed by the flavouring; the flavouring process takes just 20 seconds.
On the day I visited, they were producing two competition-winning flavours: salt and pepper chicken, and cheese and chilli jam.
Now, I rather liked the sound of the second one. Cheese, chilli and jam is a combination that can work surprisingly well, especially when you’ve got the salty crunch of a crisp involved.
It also got me thinking about flavours in general.
Competition-Winning Flavours
Ten million packets in one day
Once the crisps are cooked and flavoured, they move on to the packing operation, and that is where the scale of the whole thing really starts to get ridiculous.
One packing line, with 24 machines, can fill between 90 and 100 packets every minute.
Just stop and think about that.
That’s roughly a packet every second across the line.
And Walkers can produce up to 10 million packets of crisps in a single day.
Ten million!
Yet what really staggered me was how fast the whole process is. From the moment the potatoes are unloaded to the moment they sit inside a packet, ready to leave the factory, it takes around 30 minutes.
Half an hour! Potatoes arrive. Crisps leave.
I have spent years cooking dishes that take longer than that just to prepare the ingredients.
Of course, an enormous amount of technology, quality control, and engineering happens behind the scenes. But at its heart, the process remains wonderfully simple: potatoes, oil, heat, seasoning and a packet.
And that, I think, is what makes the whole thing so fascinating.
Just a few of the flavours we love
The flavour ideas I’m still waiting for
What I really enjoyed about the visit was seeing just how much thought goes into something that most of us probably don’t think about at all.
You open a bag of crisps, reach in and eat one. Then another, and before you know it, you’ve eaten half the packet while standing in the kitchen pretending you weren’t going to.
But somebody has had to grow those potatoes, transport them, wash them, grade them, slice them, fry them, season them and package them. All in about 30 minutes.
Despite Walkers already having an enormous range of flavours, the company is still looking at new ideas and combinations. That doesn’t surprise me because crisps are a brilliant vehicle for flavour. You can go smoky, spicy, cheesy, herby, meaty, sweet or sour, and sometimes the slightly mad combinations are the ones that work best.
When I was asked what flavour I would like to see, I decided not to play it safe.
My suggestion was crispy streaky bacon, crunchy peanut butter and bitter orange marmalade.
There was a slight pause.
Then a few rather interesting looks.
I’m not entirely convinced that flavour is going into production anytime soon.
But if it does, I want royalties 🙂
I came away from Walkers with a completely different appreciation of something I have probably eaten thousands of times. It’s easy to think of a packet of crisps as just a snack, but seeing the operation first-hand reminded me that even the simplest food can involve an extraordinary amount of skill, engineering and attention to detail.
And, just like those old Play School films, there is something wonderfully satisfying about seeing how everyday things are made.
These days, though, I don’t need a little window in the wall to show me.
I can just follow the potatoes.
And perhaps sneak a crisp or two along the way.
Inspired Recipes
Some recipes inspired by my brief trip to Walkers Crisps
Kick Off Chilli Crisps
Get ready for a flavour explosion with spicy beef chilli served on crisp! A great fun way to spice up your lunches.
View RecipeChopped Chicken Caesar Crisp Sandwich
Tender chopped chicken, crisp Romaine, zesty Caesar dressing, and crunchy bacon crisps, all nestled in toasted artisan bread!
View RecipeThe One and Only Club Sandwich
This is my favourite sandwich, from my good friend Richard Delany, an American who makes the best Club Sandwich.
View Recipe