Packets of crisps remain in short supply at many British shops following production problems at Walkers, weekly figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Thursday (2).
Some 24 per cent of food retailers had low or no availability of multipacks of crisps between Nov 26 and Nov 29, unchanged from the week before and the highest for any type of food, according to a survey by market researchers Kantar Public for the ONS.
The company has struggled to produce crisps after its Leicester factory, which can normally churn out five million packets a day, was hit by a computer glitch.
Meanwhile, Walkers has released an advert apologising for weeks of crisp shortages.
The brand made its “humble pie” admission in today’s issue of The Sun, with the tagline “the flavour we never wanted to taste”.
“Have you seen it? Probably not… nor a few of our other flavours recently. We’ve been left eating humble pie as we’ve had some trouble getting our crisps out to you. We feel terrible we’ve let you down,” reads the ad.
“Things are getting better here at Walkers, with crisps heading to shops every day,” the advert continued.
“Many of your favourites are now back and we’re working flat out to get our full range to you as soon as we can. To crisp fans everywhere, we’re truly sorry.”
Walkers had previously claimed the issue would be fixed by the end of November.
After being forced to prioritise mainstream flavours, the company is now reportedly manufacturing a wider range including Smoky Bacon, Roast Chicken and Marmite.
Walkers owner PepsiCo had completed a £14 million upgrade of its Southern Region Distribution Centre in Beaumont Leys, Leicester – its largest UK distribution site.
A Walkers spokesperson had admitted earlier last month 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 said.
Walkers previously said its factories will not be able to reach their usual production levels until the end of November.
