Walkers Wotsits

Wotsits is a quintessential British snack brand famous for its light, melt-in-the-mouth cheese-flavored corn puffs. Originally launched in 1971 by the Edinburgh-based company Golden Wonder, the brand quickly became a staple of British culture and lunchboxes due to its signature orange hue and playful marketing.

In 2002, the brand was acquired by Walkers, a subsidiary of the global food and beverage giant PepsiCo. This strategic move occurred after PepsiCo’s attempt to introduce its flagship American cheesy snack, Cheetos, to the UK market saw limited success. Instead of rebranding Wotsits as Cheetos, Walkers chose to maintain the iconic Wotsits name, leveraging its deep-rooted brand loyalty among UK consumers.

Today, Wotsits remains one of the UK's most popular snack brands. Manufacturing is centralized in the United Kingdom, specifically at Walkers' massive production facilities in Leicester and Coventry. While some specialty varieties like 'Wotsits Giants' were historically produced in other European locations, recent multi-million-pound investments by PepsiCo have sought to repatriate that production to the UK to increase capacity and reduce environmental impact.