You say potato, I say pot-ah-toe ... chip. Andthat's just the start of it.
Though thin and flat may be America's general standard — and bestsellingvariety — of this ubiquitous snack, regional and sometimes hyper-localpreferences for different calibers of crunch, thickness, seasonings and endlessother elements have created a surprisingly diverse culinary patchwork of chipstyles around the country.
That's right — the chips you nosh in the Northeast could be wildly differentthan those savored in the South.
Midwesterners, for example, prefer a thicker, more substantial chip. Big,hearty chips also sell well in New England and the Rockies, though in thelatter area those progressive mountain folk want theirs with artisanalseasonings. Southerners love barbecue flavor, chip industry executives say, butit needs to be sprinkled on thin, melt-in-your-mouth chips.
Southwestern states predictably go for bold and spicy. Local flavors — such asNew Orleans Cajun and Mid-Atlantic crab seasoning — find their way onto chipsin those places. And people all across the country, it seems, love a curly,shattering kettle chip.
"People like the potato chip they grew up with," says Jim McCarthy,chief executive officer at the Rosslyn, Va.-based Snack Food Association, atrade group that represents the many denizens of convenience store shelves."There's a very strong brand recognition and brand loyalty to the chip yougrew up with."
Potato chips are America's number one snack, according to the group's 2012state of the industry report, and Americans spent $9 billion on them in 2010,50 percent more than on the No. 2 snack, tortilla chips. More than half ofthose sales go to Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay North America, whose originalthin, crispy chip is the top-seller. But hometown styles still claim theirterritory.
In the Pacific Northwest, Seattle's thick-cut Tim's Cascade Style offers bigbite and bigger flavors, such as jalapeno made from real peppers and a salt andvinegar chip that "makes you pucker" says Dave West, sales directorfor the company.
Over in the Rockies, kettle-cooked Boulder Canyon chips pair their crunchy bitewith artisanal seasonings such as red wine vinegar, spinach and artichoke, andbalsamic and rosemary.
Down the map in the Southwest, Arizona-based Poore Brothers offers twovarieties of kettle-cooked chips with mouth-numbing heat from jalapenos andhabaneros.
"People in this region really tend to like this pepper, these stronger,spicier flavors," says Steven Sklar, senior vice president of marketing atPhoenix, Ariz.-based Inventure Foods Inc., which owns the Boulder Canyon andPoore Brothers brands. "You've got a hard bite with a strong flavor. Thecombination makes a big difference."
While Southerners like spice, industry executives say, the region's traditionalchip is thin and flaky. "The southern consumer prefers a lighter, thinnerpotato chip," says Julie McLaughlin, director of marketing at Birmingham,Ala.-based Golden Flake Snack Foods, which makes Golden Flake Thin & CrispyPotato Chips. The company sells across 10 states in the Southeast, McLaughlinsays, and its best-selling chip is "Sweet Heat Barbecue," one of fivebarbecue varieties it makes. Golden Flake also offers a thick-cut, wavy chip,McLaughlin says, "for the transplants."
And then there are the niche chips, the hyper-local flavors that connect peopleto their culinary heritage.
In New Orleans, Zapp's makes "Spicy Cajun Crawtaters," designed tomimic the flavor of a seafood boil. Nottingham, Penn.-based Herr Foods makes aPhilly cheesesteak chip, as well as one meant to taste like boardwalk fries.For other Mid-Atlantic producers such as Hanover, Penn.-based Utz Quality Foodsand the Mount Jackson, Va.-chippery Route 11 Potato Chips, crab seasoning ismust, but may be for locals only.
"If you've never had a blue crab experience, or been at a crab feast,you're kind of like, 'What is this?'" says Sarah Cohen, Route 11 presidentand co-founder. "If I see somebody ordering a lot of crab and they're inKansas City, we'll call them up to see if they understand what the crab is.Usually they don't, and they're thankful that we called."
Advances in potato chip making technology and distribution have flattened whatmay once have been a much wider variety of regional chip preferences, someanalysts and executives say. Potato chip making began in the mid-19th centurywith mom-and-pop operations in practically any small town with access to potatoes,oil and a kettle to fry them in.
Today, the industry uses "chipping potatoes" grown specifically forthe purpose, and has developed technology to produce a more uniform chip.Advances in packaging and the emergence of big box chains mean chips now can travelmuch farther, spreading once local tastes throughout the country.
"Through the mass marketers, through Costco and BJs, Walmart, a lot ofproduct that was regional has now become national," says the Snack FoodAssociation's McCarthy. "You can find Utz potato chips in California andbefore you couldn't."
For sure, standardization and competition from giant producers like Frito-Laymay have squeezed some smaller companies out of business, executives say. Butit may be the predominance of those flat, mass-produced chips that has alsokept regional passions alive.
"Trying to compete with the giants out there hasn't been successful,"says Inventure's Sklar. "That's where regional players like Poore Brotherscome in with a different product and then regional flavors to enhance that.Going head-to-head with Frito-Lay on a flat chip just isn't going towork."
But even Frito-Lay plays the regional flavors game. The company beganexperimenting a decade ago with flavors like "Chicago Steakhouse LoadedBaked Potato," and "San Antonio Salsa." Today, it offers roughlya dozen specialty flavors such as Wavy Au Gratin in the Midwest, Garden Tomato& Basil in the East, and a thick-cut Deli chip for Colorado.
Executives create new flavors by surveying popular items and food trends in thedifferent regions, said Ram Krishnan, Frito-Lay vice president of marketing.But today they also employ Facebook and other social media to crowd sourcepreferences. In contests that have been held around the world, the companyinvites consumers to suggest new flavors on the company's Facebook page. Thecurrent contest, the first in the United States, runs through October 6.Flavors like sautéed onion and ketchup, smoked salmon, and bacon — withanything from cheese to chocolate — have been suggested.
Some flavors that started out as regional specialties — for example, Limon,originally for California — have gained a wider audience.
"What always happens is that a lot of the regional cuisines have expandedand become more mainstream," says Krishnan, suggesting, for instance, thatthe popularity of Mexican food has helped the "limon" flavor gainfans. "We always find we launch these regional flavors and then theyexpand."
The company has also experienced a sort of reverse migration. Overseas undervarious brands, Frito-Lay sells flavors like roast chicken to the British,caviar to Russians, and spicy masala to hungry Indians. Occasionally, thesefind their way back to the United States: Limon began in Mexico, Krishnan says,and a ketchup-flavored chip now popular in Buffalo, New York, began in Canada.In the future, Krishnan says, even more of those overseas flavors are likely tohit the United States to cater to the country's ethnic populations.
"Good ideas come from everywhere, especially when you think about thechanging demographics of this country and how multicultural we'rebecoming," he says. "It's a matter of time."
