Doritos' 2007 Mystery Chip Experiment Launched Pickle Chip Cravings
Chips — whether of the potato or corn varieties — are one of America's favorite snacks, and for good reason. They're a salty snack that's light and easy to eat, and they come in so many flavors, there's something for everyone. The origin of the chip is disputed, but one thing we do know is who has been the biggest name in chips since the mid-20th century: Frito-Lay, the snack mega-corp created through the merger of H.W. Lay & Company (the biggest name in potato chips) and The Frito Company (likewise for corn chips).
Frito-Lay has a long history of experimentation, especially with Doritos, the company's signature corn chip. This sometimes results in flavors that don't work out, such as when the company renamed "Cool Ranch" to "Cooler Ranch," then quietly changed it back a few years later and pretended the entire thing never happened. There was also the time it tried to combine Doritos and Cheetos, as well as the time it inexplicably decided it would be a good idea to give everyone flavor whiplash and put two different chip varieties in one bag, calling it "Doritos Collisions."
Interestingly, though, the most long-lasting effect of a Doritos experiment didn't even result in a new Doritos flavor.
Dill pickle chips came from a Doritos experiment
In the early 2010s, a new chip joined the Lay's lineup, this time for good: dill pickle chips. It may have seemed like an absurd idea, but when people tried them, they discovered they were oddly compelling. Sure, they tasted weird, but in a way where you couldn't put the bag down. So, where did they even come from?
It turns out, the answer is: from Doritos. In 2007, as part of the "Doritos X-13D Flavor Experiment" (remember, this was the time period when we inexplicably decided to give snack foods SUPER MEGA EXTREEEEEEEEME branding), Frito-Lay released a mystery chip that turned out to be cheeseburger with a hint of dill pickle. The cheeseburger aspect failed, but Frito-Lay discovered customers were really into the dill pickle part.
It didn't really work for Doritos — the interaction between pickle and corn is kind of weird. But when Frito-Lay shifted gears and started producing dill pickle potato chips, it was off to the races. Today, other big potato chip manufacturers, including Utz and Herr's, also make pickle chips. But it was the 2007 Doritos experiment that launched the trend.
Potato chip experiments have dialed up in the last 20 years
Frito-Lay has always been experimental. The original Lay's and Fritos chips, while certainly classics, are relatively boring, especially to modern audiences who value new and exciting flavors. Frito-Lay started adding flavors slowly, with now-classic flavors including sour cream and onion, mesquite BBQ, and salt and vinegar. But in recent years, those efforts have increased dramatically.
The Lay's Do Us A Flavor campaign produced a whole bunch of ideas of varying quality over the past decade (R.I.P., kettle-cooked wasabi ginger chips), not to mention its attempts to produce chips inspired by regional flavors.
There was also the Flamin' Hot Cheetos craze, which ultimately flew too close to the sun and produced quite possibly the worst drink in human history: Mtn Dew Flamin' Hot. Most of these experiments didn't lead to long-lasting chip endeavors — but the dill pickle chip test certainly did.