On Sunday we stopped at the grocery store for a few items and as we were heading to the checkout The Wife noticed a Lay’s promotional box showing off three new Lay’s flavors which are up for a vote to keep the best one. While she immediately went for the Chicken and Waffles flavor, the one in her hands that interested me the most was the Sriracha (duh). We took the three bags to the checkout and paid for our items which had a coupon for buy two get one free.
We got home and The Wife made lunch and threw a few of each chip flavor onto our plates. I tried the Chicken and Waffles first and immediately crumpled in horror. Potato chips should not taste like maple syrup, ever. There was no chicken, no batter, and not much salt (if any). All I could taste was sweet, imitation syrup flavor. Gross. So. Very. Gross. I found absolutely no redeeming quality with this chip at all and it should be killed off immediately.
The Cheesy Garlic Bread chips were up next. They tasted absolutely nothing like cheesy garlic bread and were pretty terrible themselves. In fact, they may have been more terrible than the Chicken and Waffles chips and while that’s a pretty low bar to meet, I believe they did. Gooey and creamy cheese and garlic on soft, warm, and chewy bread just doesn’t translate very well to chips out of a bag. Sorry Lays, strike two.
The final bag and the one I was the most interested in were the Sriracha flavored chips. My first concern, before I even opened the bag, was that the Sriracha bottle was some generic one. I’ve tried other ‘sriracha’ sauces before and they’re all absolutely inedible. The first mistake Lay’s did was not partnering with the actual brand. The second mistake Lay’s did was adding a sweetness level which just doesn’t exist with Sriracha. The first few chips give you an immediate blast of sweet before a slight tingle comes along. After a few chips the tingle becomes more so but not enough for me to call these any good.
Listen, you want to put out three chips for a gimmicky Facebook vote, you go for it; however, those chips better be worth our while and better beat out such other great flavors as BBQ and Salt & Vinegar. But to throw three ridiculous flavors suggested by Lay’s fans and execute them all poorly is just a silly waste of time to incorporate social media into your brand.
Have you had Lay’s three new chips up for a vote? If so what did you think? Of the three flavors which are you most likely to try? Do you think potato chips should be sweet? What are your favorite chip flavors and what would you have recommended as a new flavor instead? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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February 19th, 2013 at 7:06 am
Chicken & waffles flavored potato chips just sound awful. But then, I’ve never understood the chicken & waffles together thing anyway (and yes, I’ve tried it); it sounds like something people only eat when they are drunk or high.
February 19th, 2013 at 8:10 am
I appreciate and thank you for saving from me buying any of these three bags, as I most likely would have. Too bad they all sucked though.
February 19th, 2013 at 8:11 am
While the idea for those chips sounds pretty miserable all around to begin with, I have an even bigger problem with the delivery vehicle. When I think of Lays chips, I think of an extremely light, sort of flaky and slightly greasy chip that justifies the relatively low price point you pay for them.
Since the Sriracha is the only one that sounds interesting to me, it would be cool if one of the ‘kettle chip” companies like Rachel’s or the really decent brand Zapp’s took a run at this flavor. I think putting a heartier (and tastier) chip behind a solid flavor might be pretty good, especially since Sriracha is good on pretty much anything.
February 19th, 2013 at 8:28 am
Ah Chicken and Waffles chips. I heard that Honey Boo Boo’s mom has a endorsement deal for these!
(Submitted via the non mobile version of comments because Bill hasn’t yet fixed the Safari error I get when trying to submit a comment on the mobile site even though he uses an iPhone himself)
February 19th, 2013 at 9:55 am
N52,
1. As an admin I cannot post comments like you guys can so I never use the mobile version.
2. I have disabled the mobile site because the plugin obviously doesn’t work and there’s nothing I can do about it.
3. You get what you pay for but thanks for the kind words.
February 19th, 2013 at 9:56 am
Wow, I disagree on the chicken and waffles. I think the hint of syrup flavor really does something different and tasty. I agree on the garlic bread ones though, they didn’t really do anything for me.
February 19th, 2013 at 11:23 am
Lay’s just announced Round 2, due out March 1. This time each flavor has a cutesy tag lines. Here they are:
- Burnsville Tap Water – “Each bite a different surprise!”
- Pita Plus – “Get ‘em for the 12 seconds they’ll be on the shelf before being pulled”
- Apple Valley Road Salt – “Your tongue will be spinning a 360…our fault!”
- Schwartzoff’s Special Sauce – “The other perfect marriage of crabs and a Whopper”
February 19th, 2013 at 1:09 pm
I haven’t tried these yet, I’m still absolutely HEARTBROKEN that Old Dutch discontinued their Steak-flavored Kettle Chips, which were, I believe, the best chips ever on the planet – they really tasted like steak. I hesitate to try others now, since I’ll just get addicted and they’ll snatch them away forever, like the tv series “The Event”.
February 19th, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Meh, I stick to plain ruffle chips these days. I’ve never gotten back into flavored potato chips since O’Grady’s left the market. Not surprised the flavors didn’t turn out. I think chip flavors are like candy flavors. There is what watermelon tastes like, and then what watermelon candy flavor tastes like. Neither one particularly close to each other.
February 19th, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Chicken and Waffles… soul food goes mainstream. Note to my African American friends, when lox and bagels and deli sandwiches went mainstream they got completely fucked up, that’s how we got cinnamon raisin bagels and walnut maple cream cheese.
The country is not worth saving.
February 19th, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Flavored potato chips are just plain weird to me. I like chip flavored chips, coffee flavored coffee, and beer flavored beer. Although, I do make an exception for salt and vinegar flavored chips.
February 19th, 2013 at 7:23 pm
Pascale is correct! Old Dutch chips really are the best on the planet. Wish I could find them in NC.
February 20th, 2013 at 6:18 am
Out of all the entries, these 3 are all absolutely horrid. I haven’t voted for one and I certainly won’t buy one.
February 20th, 2013 at 8:08 pm
Herr’s Heinz Ketchup Chips…pretty much the only reason I go to Walmart. (Other brands have tried, and failed, because they did not use Heinz…)
February 21st, 2013 at 8:37 am
Sandy,
I am posting an article that everyone should read, but I thought you might be particularly interested in given your passion for good healthy eating. It is an article that is both damning of the “processed food” industry as it is about the genius of marketing and how America and really the world is pushed to become big fatties with relative ease. I post it here because this “Vote for your favorite chip” idiocy plays right into the food makers master plan so easily.
Notice how Bill bought 3 bags of chips rather than just one. While I am certain Bill did it more to be able to post for this blog, think of how many people bought all 3 bags instead of just one because they felt the need to vote. Brilliant…and really fucking scary..
The article below is a really long read, but it is a page turner. None of it is surprising in the least, but the manipulation of the food industry is fascinating.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&smid=tw-share
February 21st, 2013 at 8:54 am
lefty,
Yeah, I had a handful of chips from each bag. Aside from those few handfuls the other day for the review, I had a few chips from the Sriracha bag last night as well. I am not really a chip person as it is but I definitely could see how many people were buying these to vote and at $3 a bag it’s a bit rich for my blood.
February 21st, 2013 at 8:59 am
That is what I figured. I didn’t really want to get on you for buying all three since you were doing it for this post.
Frito-Lay in particular gets called out pretty loud in that article for not really giving a shit about their role in obesity, diabetes etc in America, so putting that on this post seemed to make sense. I am definitely going to buy that book.
February 21st, 2013 at 12:09 pm
lefty,
Thanks – great article. I have begun reading it, but will finish it later…pressing issues to take care of first…
Bill, isn’t the SRP for Lay’s something like $4.79? That’s what I see posted as “regualr price” when I see them on special in Cub’s “aisle of death” (hubby’s name for the first aisle you walk down at the Cty. Rd 42 Cub in B’ville – tons of processed food “on sale!”)
Back to lefty: Hubby once spoke to a food scientist at a major local food company. This person told him that they wouldn’t dream of feeding their own children the stuff that their company produces. Huh.
I wish the addictive bad food thing, along with the bigpharma “let’s get the healthy people to take our drugs, too!” thing were conspiracy theories. I’d rather be nuts for believing it than sick from not.
February 21st, 2013 at 1:46 pm
Sandy,
Agreed. The drug industry is basically the food industry, well..on drugs. We are a society of people that needs the next stronger drug to do better than the weaker one we have become immune to. I have not ingested as much as an aspirin since 1995. If I get some pain when I get up to 80 years old, maybe that might be the time to catch an addiction, but don’t really need to try that before.
To your other point. I presume there was a time when ingredient labels were not required on food, but then they were and people still ate crap. Now we have nutrition labels that nobody reads while buying crap. People see the word “Fresh” or “Healthy” or some other not quantifiable word on the front of the packaging and that is enough for them. People in general just don’t care…
You might as well throw in the towel on this world when in that article it talks about how Doritos figured out that putting THE SAME amount of Doritos in a smaller bag made sales go through the roof because it looked like a smaller (i.e. healthier) portion. Unreal.
I hope everybody gets out and votes for the next best Lay’s product!
February 21st, 2013 at 2:41 pm
One of the worst things about drugs is that they squash symptoms, but generally do nothing do restore/promote health. It should be a crime. I will be fighting my mother’s doctor tomorrow when she tries to put her on yet another drug or six that only do harm. I read up on the last two she prescribed, and they show NO BENEFIT to females her age; in fact, there was a higher rate of heart failure and death in the group taking the drug than in the placebo group. Modern medicine. Ha.
O.K., back to potato chips!!!!
March 27th, 2013 at 6:49 am
Where can I find the new flavors.i would like to try them but can not find.i have been at Publix, Winn Dixie, and Walmart where I do my shopping. Can you please help me with this.
Thank you
Nancy
March 27th, 2013 at 8:08 am
Nancy Anderson,
Did you even read this review? You still want to try these? I bet you would be better served having some carrot sticks.
lefty
April 1st, 2013 at 11:59 am
I still have not yet found the 3 new brands of Lay’s chip’s. All I can say is you took the BEST chips off the market and that was the Chilli Cheese Chips Lay’s. Why in the world would you take such a great chip off the marker when they sold like non-other around here?????
April 1st, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Does anybody know how to read anymore?
May 8th, 2013 at 9:59 am
http://www.bringmethenews.com/2013/05/08/northern-wis-woman-wins-1m-in-lays-potato-chip-flavor-contest/
The stupid fucking Cheesy Garlic Bread chips won. This goes to prove that people eating Lay’s chips are ridiculously stupid.
May 8th, 2013 at 10:26 am
Wow – she won a nice chunk of change.
May 8th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
$1 million for cheesy garlic bread flavored chips. Are…you…f-ing…kidding…me?
That’s nearly as original as Doritos and their new Taco Bell taco flavor. Wait…a Doritos chip with taco seasonings?!? BRILLIANT!!
What’ll win next year….”Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Chives” flavored Lays?
June 11th, 2013 at 7:10 am
[...] done. I have had plenty of name-brand chips trying to capitalize off the hot sauce craze such as Lay’s miserable Sriracha chip failure, but Herr’s Texas Pete probably has been the best by [...]