A new UK crisp brand wants to do more than taste good. Lion’s Brain launched on 29 September 2026 with three hand-cooked flavours made with lion’s mane mushroom extract and added zinc, and it is marketing them on brain health.
That is a first for the crisp aisle. The brand comes from British start-up A Kind Mind Ltd, the crisps are made in the UK by established manufacturer Savoursmiths, and a 40g bag costs £1.50.
Grab These Too…
Taylors Lightly Sea Salted Ridge Cut Potato Crisps 150g
Brindisa Perello Kikones fried maize kernels
Walkers Ready Salted 70g
SALTY DOG Beef Jerky Bites 10x30g
Here is everything we know so far: the flavours, the prices, where to buy them, and whether the brain claims stand up.
What is Lion’s Brain and why is everyone talking about it
Lion’s Brain is the debut product from A Kind Mind Ltd, a British snacking start-up founded by Ian Harman. The brand first appeared in March 2026 on Entrepreneur UK’s “UK100 Start-Ups” list. It was described there as a first-to-market functional snacking brand, built on clean ingredients and mushroom flavours infused with lion’s mane extract.
Six months on, the product has landed. The idea is simple: take a proper hand-cooked crisp made with premium UK potatoes, and build the flavours and the health pitch around mushrooms instead of the usual cheese and onion or salt and vinegar.
Lion’s mane is the headline ingredient. The brand describes it as commonly associated with cognitive wellness. It is paired with added zinc, which carries an EFSA-approved health claim that zinc contributes to normal cognitive function. That puts Lion’s Brain closer to functional snacks and nootropics than a typical bag of crisps, even though it still eats like a crisp.
This is not a start-up building a factory from scratch. Savoursmiths, already known for its truffle and rosemary hand-cooked range, makes the crisps. Law firm Ashfords LLP checked the health claims for legal compliance, with regulatory support from The Nutrient Gap. For a debut launch, that is a lot of due diligence, and it suggests the brand is serious about standing behind its claims.
The three Lion’s Brain flavours
Lion’s Brain has launched with three hand-cooked flavours. Two are built around mushrooms and one is a cheese flavour.
- Wild Mushroom & Black Garlic – vegan and gluten-free, pairing an earthy wild mushroom base with the sweeter, mellow depth of black garlic.
- Shiitake Mushroom & Truffle Salt – also vegan and gluten-free, leaning into shiitake’s savoury, almost meaty flavour with a proper truffle salt seasoning.
- Raclette Cheese & Shallot – vegetarian and gluten-free, the one dairy flavour in the range, built around melted raclette and shallot for a more indulgent option.
All three flavours are gluten-free. The two mushroom flavours are vegan, while Raclette Cheese & Shallot is vegetarian because of the cheese. Every flavour uses an 8 percent seasoning inclusion rate, which is a generous coating for a hand-cooked crisp, so the flavours should come through strongly.
If you already like the adventurous end of the UK crisp market, this sits closer to a premium hand-cooked crisp than a mainstream multipack, and the flavours read more like a small-batch food product than a supermarket range.
Pack sizes, pricing and where to buy Lion’s Brain crisps
Lion’s Brain has launched in two pack sizes:
- 40g impulse single bag – RRP £1.50
- 150g sharing bag – RRP £3.75
Those prices put it in premium hand-cooked territory, which fits the better-for-you positioning. The brand is launching across UK independent retail, wholesale, fine food, hospitality and online, so expect to see it first in independent convenience stores, farm shops, delis and online shops. Wider supermarket listings may follow if it sells well.
We could not find a dedicated Amazon UK listing at launch. Rather than link to something that does not exist yet, try a search for Lion’s Brain crisps on Amazon UK to see if a listing has appeared. In the meantime, you can try the trend with functional mushroom snacks and lion’s mane mushroom snacks that are already on sale. We will add a direct product link as soon as one goes live.
Why a brain health crisp is a bigger deal than it sounds
It is easy to file “mushroom crisps with added zinc” under novelty snacking, but there is a real trend behind this launch. Functional mushrooms, and lion’s mane in particular, have been one of the fastest growing ingredients in wellness food and drink over the past couple of years. They have turned up in coffee alternatives, chocolate bars and supplements long before anyone put them in a crisp.
Putting that ingredient into a proper crisp, rather than a powder or a capsule, is a clever way to reach people who want the functional benefit but also just want a tasty snack that does not feel like medicine.
A few things stand out about how Lion’s Brain has approached this compared with a typical crisp launch:
- It leads with an approved health claim (zinc’s contribution to normal cognitive function) rather than a vague wellness buzzword.
- It went through formal legal and regulatory review before launch, which most crisp brands do not bother with.
- It calls itself an “IP-led challenger brand”, which suggests the founders are planning a wider functional snacking range.
- It launched with three flavours at once rather than a single hero flavour, which is a confident move for a debut.
Whether it lands with UK crisp buyers remains to be seen. Taste and price will still decide whether people come back for a second bag, whatever the health story. But it is a fresh idea in a category that mostly recycles the same handful of flavours, and that alone makes it worth watching.
How Lion’s Brain compares to other premium UK crisp brands
The premium end of the UK crisp market has been busy in 2026. Walkers recently launched its own premium range, Walkers Gold, with flavours like Black Truffle and Somerset Mature Cheddar & Onion at a similar £1.50 to £2.00 price. Savoursmiths, Kettle and Tyrrells have long owned the hand-cooked, higher price bracket. What sets Lion’s Brain apart is not the price or the hand-cooked format, it is the functional health angle on top.
If you want to compare, try a few truffle flavour crisps alongside the Shiitake Mushroom & Truffle Salt flavour, since truffle has become one of the defining flavours of this year’s premium crisp boom. With all three flavours gluten-free and two fully vegan, Lion’s Brain is also a good pick if you are hunting for vegan crisps or gluten free crisps that do not feel like an afterthought.
For the full picture of who else is doing interesting things in UK crisps, our crisp brand directory rounds up every brand worth knowing. You can also browse our crisp brands section to see how Lion’s Brain stacks up against more familiar names.
What we do not know yet
We only want to tell you what is confirmed, so here is what is still unclear. The brand has not named specific retail stockists beyond “independent retail, wholesale, fine food, hospitality and e-commerce”, so we cannot point you to a particular shop yet. There is also no confirmed direct-to-consumer website at launch. We will update this post as soon as either is confirmed.
Quick summary
- What: a new UK crisp brand made with lion’s mane mushroom extract and added zinc for normal cognitive function
- Who: start-up A Kind Mind Ltd, made by Savoursmiths
- Launched: 29 September 2026
- Flavours: Wild Mushroom & Black Garlic, Shiitake Mushroom & Truffle Salt, Raclette Cheese & Shallot
- Price: £1.50 for 40g, £3.75 for 150g
- Dietary: all gluten-free, two of three vegan
Lion’s Brain crisps FAQs
Lion’s Brain is a new UK crisp brand from start-up A Kind Mind Ltd, launched on 29 September 2026. The crisps are hand-cooked in the UK by Savoursmiths and made with lion’s mane mushroom extract and added zinc, both linked to supporting normal cognitive function.
Lion’s Brain launched with three flavours: Wild Mushroom and Black Garlic, Shiitake Mushroom and Truffle Salt, and Raclette Cheese and Shallot. All three are hand-cooked with an 8 percent seasoning inclusion rate.
Two of the three flavours, Wild Mushroom and Black Garlic and Shiitake Mushroom and Truffle Salt, are vegan. Raclette Cheese and Shallot is vegetarian rather than vegan because it contains cheese. All three flavours are gluten-free.
Lion’s Brain crisps come in two pack sizes: a 40g single bag at £1.50 RRP and a 150g sharing bag at £3.75 RRP.
Lion’s Brain is launching across UK independent retail, wholesale, fine food, hospitality and online channels. No named stockists or Amazon UK listing had been confirmed at launch, so check back here for updates.
Lion’s Brain crisps contain added zinc, which carries an EFSA-approved health claim that zinc contributes to normal cognitive function. Lion’s mane mushroom extract is commonly associated with cognitive wellness, but that is a general association rather than an approved health claim for the ingredient.
Lion’s Brain is made by British start-up A Kind Mind Ltd, founded by Ian Harman, and manufactured in the UK by established crisp maker Savoursmiths. Law firm Ashfords LLP checked the health claims for legal compliance, with regulatory support from The Nutrient Gap.
