Northern Ireland snack group Tayto has snapped up struggling crisp maker Jonathan Crisp for an undisclosed sum.

Tayto announced yesterday it had agreed a deal to acquire the Staffordshire-based premium crisp manufacturer, whose hand-fried and vegetable crisps are produced by local business Glennan’s.

The news continues a run of acquisitions for Tayto after taking control of Golden Wonder in 2006, Welsh business Real Crisps in 2007 and Red Mill Snack Foods – maker of Transform-a-Snack – in March last year.

The group now has annual sales of around £150m, making it the UK’s third-largest crisp and snack group.

“This is the fourth in a series of strategic purchases we have undertaken in the last three years and [puts] us in a strong position to continue our growth through further acquisitions,” said Tayto sales director John McQuaid.

“As this was a ‘distress purchase’, we had to move quickly to snap-up the brand and… completed the deal in just one week. We hope to emulate the success we have had with Golden Wonder, also at the point of collapse three years ago when we bought it and which we are now successfully re-building as a brand.”

McQuaid added: “We are in the process of contacting Jonathan Crisp’s customers and suppliers and will be holding discussions with them over the coming weeks. We have a very focused business plan to ensure that we are able to hold our own in the economic downturn and have introduced timely cost-saving efficiencies as part of our strategic approach.”

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