Crisp shortage continues to haunt one in three stores

Crisps remain in short supply in almost one in three British shops, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) following production difficulties at a major supplier.

Britain’s biggest crisp producer Walkers, part of PepsiCo, reportedly had to scale back production of the popular potato snack at the start of the month after problems with an IT systems upgrade, which it warned could take weeks to fix.

Some 4 per cent of shops visited between November 12 and November 15 had no multipacks of crisps for sale, while 26  per cent had only limited supplies, according to market research by Kantar Public, published by the Office for National Statistics.

Britons each eat on average two packets of crisps a week, Kantar said.

A Walkers spokesperson said last week that the botched upgrade had “disrupted the supply” of some products. 

“We’re doing everything we can to increase production and get people’s favourites back on shelves,” the spokesperson added.

The company is prioritising the making of popular varieties “including cheese and onion, ready salted and salt and vinegar, as well as Quavers and Wotsits”, reports said. But supplies of what Walkers described as “more niche” varieties are shrinking. 

It was reported last month that PepsiCo, the US food and drink conglomerate that owns Walkers, had asked retailers to stop including its products in promotions, in a bid to avoid shortages.

Frozen turkeys – which were the scarcest product last week, when Kantar did not look into crisp supplies – had no or low availability at 15 per cent of shops.

However, the poultry industry, which has suffered from shortages of workers due to post-Brexit immigration restrictions and Covid-19, assured earlier this week there would be enough whole turkeys for Christmas but a limited range of other products.

Britain, like other Western economies emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, has been suffering sporadic shortages of specific goods in recent months though the problems here are exacerbated by Brexit, which limits the ability of employers to hire workers from mainland Europe – most visibly last month when there were long queues at petrol stations.

The supply chain issues are expected to continue in the coming weeks, with fears that Christmas will be affected.