Tayto buys another UK snack business

Tayto Group, the Northern Ireland based UK snacks manufacturer is to buy The Real Pork Crackling Company of Tamworth in Staffordshire.

Tayto, which has brands including Golden Wonder and Real Crisps, acquired The Real Pork Crackling Company for an undisclosed sum from owner Chris Cunliffe.

Set up in 1992, The Real Pork Crackling Company owns the Golden Pork Crunch pork crackling brand and has listings with UK grocers including Sainsbury's and Asda. It also supplies pork scratchings.

Tayto is headquartered at Tandragee in county Armagh and is now a UK leader in snacks including its original potato crisps.

Tayto chief executive Paul Allen, commenting on the latest acquisition, says: "It gives us a great brand to add to our portfolio in a market segment which continues to grow especially with those seeking a high-in-protein snack."

Tayto, which is a Montagu Group business, also owns the Mr Porky scratchings brand and will now have a manufacturing site in the midlands.

Mr Allen adds: "It also helps with our growth and the scale of our business. This means we now have a third production facility in Tamworth to add to our other two pork production sites in Westhoughton and Wolverhampton."

The acquisition is the latest in a series by Tayto, which acquired the assets of popcorn maker Pop Notch in Northern Ireland. In early 2017, Tayto purchased London-based crisp maker Tavern Snacks and Devon popcorn business Portlebay Popcorn. Production of Pop Notch popcorn is being moved to Portlebay.

Mr Allen continues: "Organic growth and planned acquisition have always been key to our development strategy and this is another phase of that plan."

Over the last 18 months, Tayto has also built a vending business in the UK through acquisition. Montagu Group has made four acquisitions in the last year - the trade and assets of three businesses from AIM listed Uvenco UK; Cambridge Vending; Freedom Refreshments; and West Country Vending Service in June.