UK Crisps and Savoury Snacks Market Report 2026
Functional variants and nut, seed and pulse products hold untapped potential for crisp and savoury snack brands.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Outlook for crisps, savoury snacks and nuts
- Opportunities
- Mine interest in health benefits from savoury snacks
- Guide shoppers to healthy options
- Capitalise on dips’ popularity
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THE MARKET
- Snapshot – market size and forecast
- Weak consumer confidence holds mixed fortunes for crisps, savoury snacks and nuts
- Graph 1: financial wellbeing and confidence indices, 2019-26
- Crisps inflation climbs in 2025
- Graph 2: consumer price inflation for crisps, dried fruit and nuts, and all food, 2022-25
- Healthy eating efforts bring opportunities and threats to crisps, snacks and nuts
- Restrictions on HFSS food and drink limit visibility
- Market size and forecast
- Market size and forecast of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts
- Graph 3: retail volume sales of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts, 2019-30
- Walkers retains top position in crisps and savoury snacks
- Graph 4: leading brands’ sales in the crisps and savoury snacks retail segment, by value, 2022/23-2024/25
- Walkers and Pringles lose, Tyrrells and Hula Hoops gain
- Private label gains share in popcorn
- Graph 5: leading brands’ sales in the popcorn retail segment, by value, 2022/23-2024/25
- KP retains top position in nuts
- Graph 6: leading brands’ sales in the nuts retail segment, by value, 2022/23-2024/25
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THE CONSUMER
- Crisps and savoury snacks enjoy near-universal usage
- 96% eat crisps and savoury snacks
- Graph 7: types of crisps/savoury snacks eaten in the last three months, 2020-25
- Under-45s are core users of crisps and savoury snacks
- Graph 8: eating of different types of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts three or more times a week, by age, 2025
- Highlight health benefits
- Explore health benefits in crisps/savoury snacks
- Functional health benefits hold untapped potential in crisps and savoury snacks
- High-protein base ingredients warrant further focus
- Nuts, seeds and pulses: an opportunity for established crisps brands
- Shoppers want guidance on health
- Shoppers seek clearer in-store guidance for healthier savoury snacks
- Help shoppers find healthy crisps and savoury snacks
- Apps and loyalty schemes provide a platform for healthy swap tips
- Position healthier variants alongside core ranges
- Dips hold untapped potential
- Strong dip usage signals untapped opportunity
- Tap consumers’ love of dips
- Encourage crisp-and-dip pairing through cross-merchandising
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PRODUCT, INNOVATION AND MARKETING
- Big brands enter nuts and corn, premium nuts gain share
- Big brands enter nuts, premium gains share
- Hot and spicy trend continues to bring new products and collaborations
- Tie-ups drive limited editions and on-pack promotions
- Walkers refreshes packaging and makes most core variants HFSS-compliant
- Walkers spotlights alcohol-free snacks for January 2025
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APPENDIX
- Report scope
- The market
- Forecast methodology
- Forecast methodology – fan chart
- Market size and forecast of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts (volume fanchart)
- Graph 9: retail volume sales of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts, 2019-30
- Market size and forecast of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts (value)
- Market size and forecast of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts (volume)
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (value)
- Market forecast and prediction intervals (volume)
- Sales of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts, by segment
- Market share – crisps and savoury snacks brands (value)
- Market share – crisps and savoury snacks brands (volume)
- Market share – crisps and savoury snacks manufacturers (value)
- Market share – crisps and savoury snacks manufacturers (volume)
- Market share – nuts brands (value)
- Market share – nuts brands (volume)
- Market share – nuts manufacturers (value)
- Market share – nuts manufacturers (volume)
- Market share – popcorn brands (value)
- Market share – popcorn brands (volume)
- Market share – popcorn manufacturers (value)
- Market share – popcorn manufacturers (volume)
- Trends in the population age structure
- The consumer
- Consumer research questions
- Consumer research methodology – EMEA
- UK generation groups
- Other data source methodologies
- Mintel Spark
- Nielsen Ad Intel coverage
- Abbreviations
Functional variants and nut, seed and pulse products hold untapped potential for crisp and savoury snack brands. Strong consumer interest signals the permission for these treat brands to play in the better-for-you space and capitalise on, rather than just weather, healthy eating trends.
Stretched household finances have brought mixed fortunes to the category, supporting food and drinks spend through retail over that out-of-home, but seeing pricier variants face scrutiny and own-label gain share. These pressures will continue in 2026. As they begin to lift in later years, this will open up trading up opportunities and health will become more front of mind.
The latter poses both a threat and an opportunity for the category. Variants deemed less health will face growing scrutiny, however, the strong consumer interest in better-for-you variants, including from crisp and crisp-style snack brands, signals scope for the market to lean into this trend.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
- Performance of the market, with volumes ebbing in 2025
- Key trends in recent launch activity and product development opportunities
- Usage of crisps, savoury snacks and nuts and core users
- The scope for crisps and savoury snacks to play in the better-for-you space
- Consumer desire for guidance on healthier choices in the category
- The popularity of eating crisps/crisp-style snacks with dips and related opportunities
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