Mar 28, 2025 Metro Eats
Kia ora,
Welcome back to another snack-centric edition of this newsletter!
The potato chip is one of the great gastronomic loves of my life, and it is a love that is thoroughly predictable. I am devoted to a few dependable brands in a few dependable flavours — mostly salt and vinegar, but occasionally sour cream and chives. Despite the inevitability of what I reach for, I adore the chip aisle too: kaleidoscopic rows of flavours and brands and fonts and colours and personalities, all jostling for attention. Even though I rarely diverge from my own conventions, there is something comforting about the sheer abundance and multifariousness of it all.
While I wasn’t in the mood to count every chip variety stocked at my local supermarket this week to quantify this perceived variety, the online version of the store lists 216 different products in the chip section. 216 different chips! So much range! So many choices! So much potential for snack-induced happiness!
Out of curiosity, I decided to look into where all these various brands of chips come from. Call me naive, but I was startled to find out that, aside from a few exceptions, nearly all these seemingly distinct chips are distributed by just two (!!) companies.
Bluebird (originals, thick cut, thinly cut, Twisties, Burger Rings, Rashuns, Poppa Jacks, Cheezels), Copper Kettle, Delisio, Grain Waves, Doritos and Cheetos are all owned by Bluebird, which is the New Zealand arm of the US-based snack giant PepsiCo. Meanwhile, Snacka Changi, Natural Chip Co., the entire Eta range (including Ripples, Ridgies, Uppercuts, Cornados, Munchos and so on), Kettle Chip Co., Mexicano and Proper Crisps fall under the umbrella of Griffin’s, which itself is owned by Intersnack, a German snack food conglomerate. The only exceptions are the supermarket-branded chips and the independently owned Heartland brand. And that’s essentially it. As it turns out this ‘wide variety’ is mostly an illusion of choice.
It’s perhaps not all that surprising that, like many snacks, our chips are captured by a monopoly — I mean, good luck finding a canned drink in the dairy that isn’t distributed by Coca-Cola. Still, the ramifications of this concentration of brands and wealth are worth considering. On the subject of food monopolies, Amanda Starbuck, a policy analyst at Food & Water Watch, told THE GUARDIAN in 2021, “It’s a system designed to funnel money into the hands of corporate shareholders and executives while exploiting farmers and workers and deceiving consumers about choice, abundance and efficiency.” And even if none of that bothers you, the situation poses a risk to your individual snacking habits: the trend of larger companies swallowing up smaller ones and the shrinking pool of independent players makes it harder for newcomers to enter the market, stifling innovation — and ultimately, the possibility of better snacks.
So now I’m now on a quest to find locally made indie chips. So far, I’ve discovered just one: Ninety Nine Street, who make Casstavas and A-Fours, and have one of the most wonderfully KOOKY WEBSITES I’ve seen since the early 2000s. If you know of any local, independently owned chip companies, I’d love to hear about them. After all, it’s great to find a big chip in the bag, but finding out all your snacks are owned by Big Chip? Not so much.
Hei konā mai,
Charlotte
P.S. As I mentioned last week, the latest issue of Metro is on sale now. The issue includes the return of Cheap Eats, a wander around the St Lukes food court, restaurant reviews (including a restaurant that I cannot stop going back to), an instant curry paste taste test, a profile of the Instagram food critic Awful Food Reviews and a search for the perfect thick burger. Beyond the food section, you’ll find features on Golriz Ghahraman, on David Grr, a chunky contemporary art special and much more.
What’s new?
The never-ending procession of new canned drink specimens continues. One that caught my eye this week was NODE HYDRATION. The concept seems to be Powerade but with no added sugar or sweeteners inside a cool, nu-brutalist/ Melbournian-looking can in either citrus or mango flavour. Garage Project’s new KONBINI line of alcoholic lemonade (which, presumably is inspired by the ubiquitous lemon sours found in Japanese convenience stores) looks quite cute. We also had a selection of SHNACK, the new-ish ready-to-drink protein drink in a can sent to the office to sample. Our commercial manager (and protein drink connoisseur) Lucy reckons the chocolate brownie one is the best of the bunch.
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Is peanut butter a snack? In some contexts (when eaten with a spoon), yes. PIC’S has recently launched a new salt and pepper variety.
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The old ‘Moochi Corner’ spot on High St has recently transformed into a convenience store. It looks like a very well-stocked shop but I’ll admit there’s something quite jarring about seeing the remnants of the boutique, still with some of its old signage up, now filled with a rainbow assortment of lollies and chips and fizzy drinks.
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Oh, and the Karangahape Rd branch of Circle K has finally opened. It’s open 24 hours and they sell something called ‘Kool-Aid popping candy’, which sounds compelling.
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The legendary (to me, at least) JJ Ice Cream Wafers have rebranded with a new name and rejigged design. The new name is YELLOW BITES Ice Cream Wafers and the packaging includes an image of a cheerfully personified wafer on a stroll in the style of mid-century food mascots. This transformation, thankfully retains a lot of the sweetness and charm of the original look. It makes me happy to know that people still purchase wafers specifically for the ritual of making ice-cream sandwiches.
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Key Takeaways on What New Zealand Diners Want in 2025
The Restaurant Association of New Zealand published their latest consumer insights report, and the verdict is out on what diners like you want in 2025.
- Diners crave consistency. Nothing gains customer loyalty better than the same level of quality and service every single time.
- Service is still king. Apart from amazing food, diners rank service quality, cleanliness, and attentiveness on top when it comes to the dining experience.
- The pursuit of value, from pricing to portion size. New Zealand diners pay attention to value at a time when economic conditions are choppy.
- Online bookings are up and coming but the phone still rings for reservations. That’s where automated agents like Now Book It AI come in.
Resonate with these trends? Follow Now Book It for the latest updates in all things dining.
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Three good snacks.
Boy Bawang Cornick Adobo Flavour
$1.99 from Kabayan Asian Store Cambridge
Could this bag of audibly crunchy roasted corn kernels, coated in some magical vinegary, savoury, garlicky, sweet-ish powder be the best snack I’ve eaten this year? Quite possibly. So very good, and so very difficult to stop eating. Also, if you’re in Cambridge (or Tokoroa – they also have a shop there), I highly recommend this small but extremely well-stocked shop.
Jack ’N Jill Roller Coaster Tom Yum
From my mum
Crisp, perfectly spiced, lovely. One friend compared these potato rings to gingerbread — in an approving way.
Seoju King Watermelon Jelly
$2.90 from Wang Mart
Because of the shape of the packaging — which is like that of a Calippo (I’ve gone down A RABBIT HOLE trying to find the technical name to describe this shape, but a simple answer doesn’t seem to exist. Although our sub editor Anna suggests calling it “a flattened cone-wedge”) — I assumed that this snack was some type of watermelon jelly and that the packet would work in some functional manner to squeeze said jelly out (just like a Calippo). So I was shocked when I peeled back the lid to find a small pile of very soft jubes rattling around the bottom: the shape of the packaging serves no purpose whatsoever (other than making it harder to eat what’s inside). Once I managed to fish the jellies out, however, I really enjoyed them. The watermelon flavour is bold, with the perfect thrust of sourness, and the chunky sugar crystals lent a little more textural fun to the stickiness of the jubes. Weird packaging, but delightful lollies.
Three not-so-good snacks.
V Grape Burst Guarana Energy
$4.20 from Haven Mart
Smells like Hubba Bubba and tastes like Hubba Bubba. This is fun and nostalgia-inducing but also far too sweet and not actually that enjoyable as a drinking experience. The most obvious problem is that it’s missing the all-important bitter twang of guarana.
Glico Collon Biscuit Roll Cream Flavour
$2.20 from Ruay Thai Mart
While the name might be an effective conversation starter, that’s about where the positives stop with these bite-sized biscuit rolls. I was underwhelmed by the miserly amount of filling. I was also left feeling slightly unnerved by the faint yet unmistakable banana-notes, despite there being no mention of banana on the packaging. Sort of tasted like a biscuit that had been marooned in a school lunchbox with a banana all day.
Bika Honey Crab Crackers
From my mum
These golden, ribbed curls are very pleasing to look at and the texture is wonderful: crisp, chewy, slightly caramelised on the outside. But they suffer the same unfortunate issue that many ‘crab’-flavoured snacks do: bar a few notable exceptions, the taste of crab translates terribly in the artificial dimension.
