Let’s be more crisp with pub snacks
The hanging basket-adorned Cross Keys pub in Endell Street in Covent Garden was a regular stop-off point for me before heading for an Indian meal at the sadly long-gone Neel Akash restaurant (replaced by Sainsbury’s in Hanway Street). Another plus point was that it also stocked the rarely seen roast turkey and stuffing crisps from Tavern Snacks.
Ahead of one particular meal, the temptation was too strong to avoid sharing a packet with as mate, just to “put us on”, as my mother would say, before dinner. But four packets in and we were both cooked. As much as I love Indian food, there was something particularly tempting, addictive even, about that flavour of the crunchy delicacy on that night. It highlighted that you should never underestimate the power of crisps.
I’ve argued the case before that pubs should seriously consider whether they really need the costs and hassle of having a full food offer when they could simply have iconic bar snacks such as Scotch eggs, toasties and pasties. I’d even go a stage further and suggest that for a whole swathe of pubs, all that is needed to satisfy customers is a solid range of crisps and other fried bagged snacks.
Two of my favourite pubs are wholly in this camp and offer no hot food whatsoever, but instead have a gloriously rich array of packet savoury snacks. The Swan on the edge of York city centre has myriad options encompassing Seabrook, Burt’s, Pipers, Golden Wonder and KP. This is a true free house and not tied to a single macro crisp maker.
It’s a similar set up at the Coach & Horses in London’s Soho. It was once famous for its grumpy landlord Norman Balon, whereas today it has an equally charismatic boss in Ali Ross, who has made the pub renowned for its warmer welcome and beer choices. And I’d argue also for its crisp selection. It is Michelin-star levels – with Monster Munch, Brown Bag, Twiglets and Quavers all present alongside a comprehensive selection from Ireland’s finest, Tayto.
The king of crisps, in my opinion, is Tayto’s cheese and onion, which is a flavour the company developed in March 1954 (Walkers copied it later the same year, and it remains its best-selling flavour). Prior to this, there was only one flavour of crisp – salt. Salt and vinegar did not appear until 1966.
Concentrating solely on crisps and other bagged snacks works an absolute treat in the wet-led Coach & Horses, according to Ross, who says the venue averages £6,000 per month on snacks: She said: “We sell a shed load, with every other customer buying a packet of something. It’s an iconic pairing the crisp and the pint, I think. It keeps people in the pub longer. For smaller pubs, why bother with the costs/management of food.”
Certainly, pub-goers appreciate a strong offering, with nearly 80% of consumers believing it important for pubs and bars to offer a good range of snacks. CGA by NIQ with KP Snacks found 50% of people think having a bar snack enhances their pub visit, while 85% are more likely to buy a packet of crisps if they are on display.
Irishman Del Currie certainly understand this. He runs The Old Ivy House in Clerkenwell, which stocks his own range of crisps called Spudos alongside other snacks. Although there is only a single plain variety on the back bar, he uniquely sells a whole range of dustings including chip shop curry, crispy bacon, döner kebab, and nduja and honey. These are used to flavour the naked crisps, which are sold in recyclable bags.
Earlier this year, he secured an investment on Dragon’s Den for his innovative UK-produced crisps, with its sustainable production and distribution model that supplies offices and direct to consumers from its website. Currie reckons crisp buyers are predominantly 35-plus-year-olds and that younger consumers have been put off by the perception of crisps as being an unhealthy snack. He’s working on this one.
Clearly, we are never going to return to the time in the late 1950s, when pubs accounted for 75% of crisp sales (even by 1969, it had fallen to only 25% as retail stores grabbed the bulk of sales). There are surely opportunities for the (not so) humble crisp to wield more power in licensed premises.
Why do we not see more own-brand initiatives? Pub company Sam Smith’s is unique in only stocking its own crisps and nuts. While it sticks to the classic flavours of salt and vinegar etc, there is surely an opportunity for pubs to provide bespoke in-house creations. Much can be learnt from the US, where Chick-fil-A has just launched a waffle-style cut crisp resembling its signature fries, and one of the flavours is inspired by its famous smoky and tangy sauce.
As many as six billion bags of crisps are sold each year in the UK, and it’s time more pubs did a better job leveraging more value from this iconic bagged snack.
Glynn Davis, editor of Retail Insider
This piece was originally published on Propel Info where Glynn Davis writes a regular Friday opinion piece. Beer Insider would like to thank Propel for allowing the reproduction of this column.