Hula Hoops are a snack food made out of potatoes and corn in the shape of short, hollow cylinders. They are sold in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. Hula Hoops are also sold in Belgium under the "Croky" tag, made in the UK but marketed and distributed from Mouscron, Belgium. In France Hula Hoops are produced by Vico. They were first introduced in 1973. Hula Hoops come in different flavours. They are made by parent companyKP Snacks. In 2008, KP started a new variety made with corn, called 'Hula Hoops Tortilla', which come in Cool Original, Chilli Salsa, and Nacho Cheese flavours.
In 1998, KP launched 'Big O's' from Hula Hoops, using Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse in their advertising campaign as their characters the Self-Righteous Brothers. Big O's were larger-than-normal Hula Hoops, packaged in larger bags and only available in Beef & Mustard flavour. The bag design used a black background featuring a large Big O's logo. A smaller Hula Hoops logo featured in the bottom-corner whilst the flavour was in the opposite bottom-corner. Big O's are no longer in production nor available.
Shoks
For a short while in the early 2000s, KP produced Hula Hoops Shoks These were miniature versions of the classic Hula Hoop, but had a much more intense flavour than the bags. They were packaged in either a stiff flexible plastic cube, or in a small resealable pot. They were available in the following flavours:
In 2001, KP launched Hula Hoops XL, which were larger-than-normal Hula Hoops, much like the previous Big O's incarnation. They were packaged larger bags and were available in a limited range of flavours, but recorded poor sales and were soon dropped. Each bag was black with a large XL logo on the front, with the flavour overlaid. They were available in the following flavours:
In late 1999, KP produced Hula Hoops that could be cooked at home. Frozen Hula hoops were not a crisp based snack; they were more like Hash Browns. They began production again in 2013 as part of a range of frozen versions of crisps, this time exclusive to Iceland stores.
In 2011, XL had a successor with Big Hoops. Essentially the same design as the XL range, they were targeted towards adults who had memories of placing regular sized hoops onto their fingers, but could no longer do so. They are currently available in £1 price marked packs and 'Grab Bag' impulse packs. 160g bags were once available as well. Big Hoops have been available in the following flavours:
Salted, formerly Original
Sour Cream & Chive
Sweet Chilli
BBQ Beef
Chilli
Spicy Chilli
Flavarings
In May 2018, KP began production of Hula Hoops Flavarings in both Salt and Vinegar and Tangy Cheese flavours. Flavarings are a larger ring than standard Hula Hoops, and are maize based rather than potato, leading to a different texture more like Monster Munch than traditional Hula Hoops.
Nutritional information
Each 25g bag of the original Hula Hoops contains around 129 calories. They also contain 0.8g of protein, 15.4g of carbohydrates, 7.1g of fat, 0.5g of fibre, and 0.2g of Sodium. These values vary between flavours.
Now no artificial flavours, colours, or MSG. Same great taste!
Charity
In 2010, Hula Hoops partnered with Sport Relief to organize mass hula hoop displays. The Hoopathons were on Sunday 21 March, and 1,388 people took part to set a Guinness World record-breaking largest number of people to hula-hoop simultaneously across the United Kingdom for two minutes. As a result of the Co-vid 19 pandemic, the distribution of Hula Hoops is limited in Asia, with regular distribution scheduled to proceed in October 2020.
