Crisps designed for beer and pubs backed by £3m ad campaign

Pepsico-owned Walkers will release three new ridged potato crisps flavours to the market, which it claims pair perfectly with beer. The three flavours are Chilli & Lime, Hot Chicken Wings and Jalapeno & Cheese.

Away from home sales director Mike Harding said the Max Strong crisps were inspired by beer and food pairing and have been designed to increase spend at the bar.

Recent research shows 15% of beer occasions currently feature a snack, yet only half of those snacks are crisps.

Sharing occasions​

“There’s a massive relevance in pubs for crisps,” he said. “Take up of crisps [in the on-trade] is flat at the moment, but we see growth in specific sharing occasions in pubs such as sporting events.

“There is a 3.5% sales uplift in crisp sales during sporting occasions,” he added.

However, in answer to whether the proliferation of niche snacking brands and new products on the bar were giving more choice to consumers and potentially taking sales away from crisps, he added: “Crisps are still the number one snacking product.

“There is a more fragmented market, but crisps are still on top for snacking in pubs. We feel there’s probably more snacking categories now, but crisps are still key in terms of size and relevance.”

Walkers will back the launch of Max Strong with a £3m ad campaign, covering digital, television and sampling.

Pair beer with crisps​

Pubs will be encouraged to take on point-of-sale material and specially created promotional kits to encourage consumers to pair the crisps with beer.

Harding added: “We are seeing more exotic flavours performing very well as people continue to branch out and try new cuisines.

“It is the variety of the hops in beer that shape its unique character and flavour, providing bitterness which is best complemented by spicy food.

“This has helped us develop our range and help outlets take advantage of the 15m weekly beer occasions taking place in the UK.”