Snack Brands 
CC's, Sheezels, French Fries, Kettle, Samboy, 
The Natural Chip Co., Thins
Address: 24 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista, NSW 2153, Australia
Phone: 1800 501 441
Website: www.snackbrands.com.au
Email: Contact Form

Snack Brands

The corporate world is a complicated business, and not one we need to concern ourselves with here. Just as Pepsi-Co own Frito-Lay and Frito-Lay own Smiths Crisps, plus numerous other famous national brands around the globe, Snack Brands Australia appears to own several traditional Australian Potato Chips and Snack brands.
To keep this brief; Snack Foods Limited was formed in 1999 by owners the Campbell Soup Company, which was in turn a subsidiary of Arnott's Biscuits. In  2008, Campbell Arnott's sold Arnott’s Snackfoods to The Real McCoy Snackfood Co. The company is now known as Snack Brands Australia.
The reason it exists at all, is because after The Smith's Snackfood Company was bought out by Frito-Lay, the American owned company agreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to divest a range of brands to prevent unfair trading practices resulting from a monopoly.
The package of brands and subsidiaries was named 'Snack Brands Australia' and was sold to Dollar Sweets Holdings, which is now Snack Foods Limited.
All very complicated, but suffice it to say that while it means the history of some of these brands are now lost in time, the new set-up includes the following brand names: CC’s, Cheezels, Chickadees, French Fries, Jumpy’s, Kettle, Natural Chip Co., Samboy and Thins.

Samboy Atomic Tomato Potato Chips
If only they did not include the word ‘Atomic.’ There was a clear and distinctive tomato flavouring to these chips, but atomic, no, not in the slightest. If anything, they were a little under-seasoned, which just compounded matters.   
(8)

Samboy Barbecue Potato Chips
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a mild barbecue aroma. The taste was a little muted. There was barbecue seasoning, but it was not strong enough, or distinctive enough, to remain long in my conciousness. This was a shame because it was a fairly rounded flavour. 
​(9)

Thins Original Potato Chips
Proper, original, regular, whatever you call plain old potato chips. There was a light, warm and fuzzy, crisp, oily potato flavour that was added to by a touch of salt. Nothing new and nothing remarkable about them, but the very thinly cut chips sat just about in the middle of their peers.   
(8)

Thins Cheese & Onion Potato Chips
I did not think I could go too far wrong with good old fashioned Australian cheese and onion, but these were thoroughly disappointing. As opposed to the brand name, which I have always thought a touch oddly undermining, they were reasonably thickly cut for regular chips. They were crispy before almost immediate mush. And the flavouring while evidently cheese and onion lacked sweetness, and humour. It was an altogether cheerless experience with muted, bland cheese, and equally muted sharp onion.
(7)

Thins Chicken Potato Chips
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a chicken stock smell. Mild, but it was present. The green seasoning flecks represented something, but not something I found in the Taste Test. Neither was there much chicken stock about, which was surprising.   
(7)

Withdrawn