Finally we have an answer.
Let’s be honest, all of us feel a bit exotic when we go into a foreign supermarket and grab a couple of bags of Lays from the shelf.
Some of the flavours are next level, especially the barbecue, paprika and chilli lemon. Even the classic flavour hits different.
You might not know that Walkers and Lays are the same crisps, not separate brands.
Walkers ‘crisps’ were established in Leicester by Henry Walker in 1948, and the snack quickly became a national favorite, securing a massive 56% of the British chip market by 2013.
Outside of the UK, the iconic logo featuring a yellow sun with a red ribbon across it reads ‘Lays’ instead of ‘Walkers’, leading fans to ask on Reddit: “Why is Walkers called Lays literally everywhere except in the UK.”
In 1970, the Walker family sold their business to American food producer, Standard Brands. Two decades later, in 1989, it was bought by Lay’s owner, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.
Because Walkers had 41 years of brand-name recognition, it was kept as the name that people in the UK already knew and were familiar with.
Others, however, argue that subtle differences between the two products is the reason behind the separate names.
A statement on One Pound Crisps reads: “Walkers crisps and Lays crisps are not exactly the same things, although they are very similar. Both brands offer a range of potato chips and savory snacks, and they are both owned by the same parent company, PepsiCo. However, there are some differences between the two brands.”
“They offer similar products in terms of potato crisps and savoury snacks, but they may have differences in flavours, packaging, and other aspects of their products. The main difference between Walkers crisps and Lays crisps is that they are marketed under different names in different parts of the world. Walkers is the brand name used in the UK and Ireland, while Lays is the brand name used in most other countries around the world, including the United States, Canada, and Australia.”
An intrigued Quora user shared their insight: “The brand that came first was Lays. Walkers, a very successful crisp brand that Americans wanted to copy and bring over to the States due to its success in the UK and amongst their American Soldiers.
“Once Pepsi bought the English company Walkers and the American company Lays, they had a meeting on the name and which to adopt,” they added.
“They found that the name “Walkers” was too hard for non native/fluent English speakers to say due to the W, K and R. Many people struggle to pronounce these letters in non English speaking countries and that made international branding much harder.
“They/Pepsi decided to keep the name Walkers in Britian where the concept of these crisps came from but all international sales would be called “Lays” From now on.(retaining the original 1930 Lays company name)
“The truth is the only reason Lays name still exists is marketing reasons.”
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The explanation continues: “Many of the techniques and flavours were adopted by Pepsi from Walkers and implemented into Lays crisps while changing a lot of Lays structure to match Walkers.
“Although that being said Lays the American counter part has since changed its reciepe and moved away from its origional source. Now it is far more unhealthy containing harmful substances, preservatives and colouring that are banned in the UK and across much of the globe making it literally illegal to sell here without changing the reciepe.
“Unfortunately many people think Walkers is the copy cat when in reality it is the Older reciepe, safer, less processed and made out of real potato as apposed to the processed potato paste alternative used in America. That being said Lay’s is far more internationally recognised and better known than Walkers.”
So, there you have it. Mystery solved.
