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In 1986, Doritos released “Cool Ranch” chips, which has since became one of the brand’s most popular flavors, selling tens of millions of bags and spawning spinoffs from taco shells to popcorn.
Nearly 40 years later, the PepsiCo-owned tortilla chips maker thinks it’s found the next big flavor with “Golden Sriracha” — a newly released permanent addition that the brand hopes emulates the popularity of Cool Ranch and Nacho Cheese.
The launch could help jumpstart sales for PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay portfolio that has come under pressure from changing consumer preferences and a crackdown on artificial ingredients. Volumes for its company’s North American food division shrunk 1% in its most recent quarter, continuing a decline in snacking purchases as customers move toward more generic labels than name brands.
PepsiCo is bolstering its lineup into the fast-growing “better-for-you” trend, developing a line of protein-heavy snacks and creating new spin-offs for its salty snacks that claim to be healthier.
Doritos has released “cleaner” versions of some of its chips, within Frito-Lay’s “Simply” lineup, which doesn’t have artificial colors and flavors. So far, the product line has had stagnant sales according to analysts.
Despite the upheaval in the snacking industry over the past few years, Doritos is leaning into what makes its so unique: bold flavors.
“The landscape is different,” admits James Wade, senior marketing director for Doritos. “But it’s a product that remains distinct and differentiated. When we talk to consumers, there’s just not a lot of alternatives that are like Doritos.”
Doritos is releasing its next “mega flavor,” as the brand calls it, developed by its culinary team that’s constantly searching for trending flavors that could be transformed into a popular salty snack.
The team landed on Sriracha, a chili sauce commonly associated with Thai and Vietnamese food that has become a grocery store staple. Red Sriracha is the most well-known and most popular version of the sauce, especially with Gen Z eaters.
“We’ve seen with Gen Z that it’s as popular as ketchup, but it’s not necessarily ‘trend forward’ to just launch another Sriracha,” Wade told CNN, adding that red Sriracha has “peaked” in popularity.
The Dorito’s team eventually landed on the yellow version, which is popular in multicultural areas like Koreatown in Los Angeles. Yellow Sriracha immediately felt “like some thing that can become something in a couple of years,” Wade said.
Wade described yellow Sriracha as a “little more complex” flavor than its red-colored counterpart, saying it’s a “little sweet, a little tangy.” It also appeals to younger eaters who might not want one-note, high intensity and spicy flavors” but still appreciate “layers and nuance.”
“We know it’s not well-known necessarily in the moment, but the folks who know it love it — and it works really well on a chip,” he said.
From there, Doritos decided using the yellow Sriracha name wasn’t going to evoke a “flavor experience if you don’t know what it is,” Wade said. The marketing team chose the word “golden” because it conveys the chip’s soft and sweet tasting notes, rather than “super spicy intense” flavor, he added.
The chip, which took about two years to develop, doesn’t contain artificial colors. However, it has artificial flavors to help achieve the Srirachca taste.
Despite the popularity of healthier versions of foods, the artificial flavoring likely won’t alienate some consumers who “aren’t offended by that,” according to Kenneth Shea, senior consumer products analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.
In the future, regular Doritos and “Simply” Doritos will co-exist in the PepsiCo portfolio, he added, because “people continue to consume both.”
“Why not have products for everyone?” Shea told CNN. “That’s the strategy going forward.”
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