Walkers Crisps is facing a snack shortage as the manufacturer struggles to keep up with demand following major technical problems.
Products including French Fries, Quavers and Wotsits, as well as traditional Walkers crisps, have reportedly been low in stock in recent weeks.
The Leicestershire-based manufacturer says it is working around the clock to get back to capacity, Business Live reports.
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It is understood technical issues following a big IT upgrade have been affecting production for several weeks, while reports suggest rivals such as KP have seen big increases in demand for alternative products.
Walkers, part of the global PepsiCo group, confirmed that its factory in Beaumont Leys, Leicester, which employs around 1,300 people, was currently producing limited quantities of crisps and snacks.
A spokesperson said production of multipacks of cheese and onion crisps, baked ready salted, Quavers, Wotsits and French Fries had been affected.
“We are currently experiencing disruption to the supply of some of our Walkers snacks products, as a result of a recent IT system upgrade," the spokesperson said.
“We’re very sorry for the inconvenience and would like to reassure everyone that we are working round the clock to increase supply.
“We’re incredibly grateful to all our colleagues in Leicester and our other sites for their hard work and dedication as we work through this issue.”
A spokesman for the Leicestershire-based Poundstretcher group said they had seen deliveries of Walkers products plummet in recent weeks.
He said: “They had a change to their systems and the change has taken much longer than expected.
“In our last order, instead of getting 26 pallets – which is equivalent to a truckload – we received seven cases, which is not even a pallet full. It is that bad.
“I was in Tesco the other day and the crisps shelves were empty, so I think the bigger supermarkets are being affected more severely as their sales are higher volume.”
In September PepsiCo said it had completed a £14 million upgrade of its Southern Region Distribution Centre in Beaumont Leys, Leicester – its largest UK distribution site. It was one of the biggest investments it has made in the UK.
A new building, it said, with “state-of-the-art equipment and technology” would increase storage capacity at the warehouse site by 29 per cent.
It said the investment would allow its crisps – which it said are bought by nine in 10 households in the UK – to be distributed to supermarkets and retail partners more efficiently.
It said: “As part of the new building, the latest automated technology has been installed to retrieve and move pallets of stock more efficiently.”
At the end of September site lead Andy Smethurst said: “After two years of planning and execution, our new SRDC building is now open for business, and set to dramatically change our logistics operation.
“It will create more efficiencies, more capacity, and importantly also take miles off the road so we can reduce our carbon footprint.
“We’re confident that this will allow us to serve our retail customers with more agility, while also ensuring the future success of our distribution centre.”
