Thins

Thins is an Australian savoury snack brand built around thinly sliced potato chips. The product is cut more thinly than conventional potato chips, giving it a lighter, crispier texture and positioning it as an alternative to standard crinkle-cut or regular-cut offerings. The brand is sold in Australia and is associated with Snack Brands Australia, whose parent company is the international snack-food group Intersnack. The precise origin date is disputed in the available sources. The Thins website describes the concept as having been developed in Australia during the 1950s, while reporting in the Australian Financial Review places the brand's creation under Arnott's in the late 1960s. Because these accounts differ, no definitive founding year is assigned here. In either case, the brand emerged from Australia's established packaged-snack industry and developed its identity around a simple product distinction: a potato chip sliced thinner than the conventional format. Thins underwent several important ownership and brand-portfolio changes during the 1990s and early 2000s. After PepsiCo acquired a half-interest in Arnott's in 1991, the Australian business was reorganised as Frito-Lay Australia and Thins was temporarily presented alongside, and in connection with, PepsiCo's Lay's thin-chip proposition. This created an unusual period in which the Thins name and Lay's branding were closely associated in the Australian market. In 1997, Campbell Soup Company acquired Arnott's. During the same period, PepsiCo pursued the acquisition of The Smith's Snackfood Company, and Thins was divested to Snack Foods Limited rather than remaining in the PepsiCo-controlled snack portfolio. Snack Foods Limited was subsequently reacquired by Arnott's in 2002. The brand therefore returned to an Arnott's-controlled corporate environment, although later ownership changes placed it within Snack Brands Australia and ultimately the Intersnack group. The ownership transitions also shaped the competitive context: PepsiCo's Smith's business continued selling thinly cut potato chips, first associated for a period with the Lay's name and later marketed as Smith's Thinly Cut. Thins consequently became a direct Australian competitor to Smith's thin-chip products, despite the two ranges sharing broadly similar product characteristics and flavour conventions. As of 2025, the Thins range includes Original, Salt and Vinegar, Light and Tangy, Chicken, Cheese and Onion, Sour Cream and Chives, Himalayan Salt, and Margarita variants. These flavours place the brand within the mainstream Australian potato-chip market rather than a narrowly premium or health-focused niche. Its core positioning remains the combination of a familiar savoury snack format with a notably thin cut and crisp bite. The brand's public identity is primarily product-led: thinness, crunch, and a broad selection of familiar Australian chip flavours are more central than a separately documented corporate or lifestyle proposition.

Thins is an Australian potato-chip brand whose defining characteristic is its thinly sliced product format. Unlike standard potato chips, which may use a conventional or crinkle-cut slice, Thins is designed around a thinner cut that produces a particularly crisp bite. The brand has been sold as a mainstream savoury snack in Australia and has competed most directly with other thin-cut potato-chip products. The brand's origin date is not settled by the available references. The Thins website states that the concept was conceived in Australia in the 1950s. A contrasting account published by the Australian Financial Review attributes the creation of the brand to Arnott's in the late 1960s. Since the sources do not reconcile these accounts, the brand's founding year is left unspecified. Both accounts nevertheless place Thins within the development of Australia's modern packaged-snack sector. A significant phase in Thins' history began in 1991, when PepsiCo acquired a half-interest in Arnott's. The Australian operation was subsequently associated with Frito-Lay Australia, and Thins was marketed in a way that connected it with Lay's, PepsiCo's international thin-chip brand. For a period, the Australian market therefore saw Thins presented alongside a PepsiCo thin-chip proposition. This relationship reflected portfolio and branding decisions rather than a change in the product's basic thin-sliced format. In 1997, Campbell Soup Company acquired Arnott's. That same year, PepsiCo notified the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of its intention to acquire The Smith's Snackfood Company. As part of the resulting portfolio changes, Thins was divested to Snack Foods Limited, then owned by Dollar Sweets Holdings. Smith's remained under PepsiCo, and PepsiCo continued to sell a thin potato-chip line under the Lay's name for a period. The result was an unusual competitive situation in which Thins and the PepsiCo thin-chip range could appear very similar in both product concept and packaging. The Thins packet design was reported to draw on the North American Lay's visual approach. Snack Foods Limited was reacquired by Arnott's in 2002. Around the same period, the PepsiCo thin-chip range that had been sold under Lay's was later reworked as Smith's Crisps and then associated with Smith's Thinly Cut, while the traditional Smith's potato-chip line became Smith's Crinkle Cut. Thins consequently continued as a distinct brand competing against Smith's products in the Australian market, even though both brands operated in closely related flavour and format categories. Later corporate ownership placed Thins within Snack Brands Australia, which is owned by Intersnack. The available reference material does not establish a specific date for that ownership arrangement or identify a separate Thins corporate headquarters. The brand remains active in Australia. Its documented range as of 2025 includes Original, Salt and Vinegar, Light and Tangy, Chicken, Cheese and Onion, Sour Cream and Chives, Himalayan Salt, and Margarita flavours. These products preserve the central proposition that has defined Thins throughout its documented history: a familiar potato-chip snack delivered in a thinner, crispier format.

• 2025

  Documented flavour range

  [1]Thinsen.wikipedia.org

  The listed range includes Original, Salt and Vinegar, Light and Tangy, Chicken, Cheese and Onion, Sour Cream and Chives, Himalayan Salt, and Margarita.

• 2002

  Snack Foods Limited is reacquired by Arnott's

  [1]Thinsen.wikipedia.org

  The transaction returned Thins to an Arnott's-controlled portfolio.

• 1997

  Thins is divested to Snack Foods Limited

  [1]Thinsen.wikipedia.org

  Amid Campbell Soup Company's acquisition of Arnott's and PepsiCo's pursuit of Smiths, Thins moved to Snack Foods Limited, then owned by Dollar Sweets Holdings.

• 1991

  PepsiCo acquires a half-interest in Arnott's

  [1]Thinsen.wikipedia.org

  The ownership change led to the formation of a Frito-Lay Australia association and to Thins being presented in connection with PepsiCo's Lay's thin-chip branding.

Mainstream Australian potato chips differentiated by a thinner slice, crisp texture, and a broad range of familiar savoury flavours.

• Potato chips

  Thins Original

  The core unelaborated Thins product, built around the brand's thinly sliced potato-chip format and crisp texture.

• Flavoured potato chips

  Thins flavoured potato chips

  The documented flavour range includes Salt and Vinegar, Light and Tangy, Chicken, Cheese and Onion, Sour Cream and Chives, Himalayan Salt, and Margarita. These variants extend the thin-cut format across familiar savoury and seasoning profiles.

• 1997

  Divest Thins during the Smiths transactionM&A

  Background

  PepsiCo's intended acquisition of The Smith's Snackfood Company required changes to the ownership of related snack brands.

  Action taken

  Thins was transferred to Snack Foods Limited, while Smiths remained in PepsiCo's portfolio.

  Aftermath

  Thins and PepsiCo's Lay's or later Smith's thin-chip offerings became competing Australian products with similar format characteristics.

  Source

• 1991

  Align Thins with Lay's under Frito-Lay AustraliaStrategy

  Background

  PepsiCo's acquisition of a half-interest in Arnott's changed the structure of the Australian snack business and created a connection between Thins and PepsiCo's international thin-chip brand.

  Action taken

  Thins was relabelled or presented jointly with Lay's branding for a period.

  Aftermath

  The arrangement preceded later portfolio changes in which Thins was separated from PepsiCo's Smith's business.

  Source

1. 1Thinsen.wikipedia.org