Popular potato chip company Proper Crisps looks to close Nelson factory

Thursday, 18 September 2025

Proper Crisps is proposing to close its factory in Nelson.

Nelson mayor Dr Nick Smith says the region is “punch drunk with bad news” following a proposal from potato chip company Proper Crisps to close its factory and move manufacturing to Auckland.

The company, owned by Griffin’s, on Thursday signalled the proposed closure of its Stoke factory in late 2027.

“Recently we shared with our Nelson and Wellington teams a proposal to bring all New Zealand savoury snack manufacturing together at our Wiri site in Auckland,” a Griffin’s Snacks spokesperson said in a statement to The Press.

“This proposal is about strengthening our manufacturing capability in New Zealand for the long term, but we know it could mean change for some of our people.”

If the proposal goes ahead, 82 roles across Nelson and Wellington could be affected, the spokesperson told The Press.

In a post to social media, the mayor said he felt for the “about 65 Nelson staff and families affected as well as the further blow to the Nelson economy”.

The mayor said Nelson was “punch drunk with bad news” following the Proper Crisps announcement.

“The region is punch drunk with bad news following the storms in June and July, the August decision to close the [Carter Holt Harvey] Eves Valley sawmill, the September proposal by Sealord to close its fish coating plant and now this Griffin’s announcement of its proposal to close its Proper Crisps factory in Echodale Place in Stoke,” Smith said.

“I cannot recall such a terrible run of bad news for our region in over 30 years as an MP and now mayor.”

Smith said the factory was built in Nelson, “not because of us being a potato growing area, but it being the home of the founding food innovators”.

“The downside when these businesses are taken over [by] the corporates is that they lose this community connection,” he said.

The mayor said he worried about the further loss of manufacturing in Nelson and “particularly in the specialist food sector”.

“This closure proposal adds weight and importance to the work being done to improve regional economic development for the city and region,” he said.