Frito Lay has developed a range of regional flavours especially for the US snack market.

The Lay’s team collaborated with chefs across the country to understand regional flavour preferences, developing six new flavours of Lay’s that represent the best in regional cuisine. Each of these “regional” flavors is made with all-natural ingredients.  

One of the new regional flavours, Lay’s Tangy Carolina BBQ, is being launched nationwide.  The other five flavours are being launched only in the region of the country that inspired the flavour:  

• Northeastern US — Lay’s Pepper Relish 
• Midwestern US — Lay’s Garden Tomato & Basil 
• Northwestern US — Lay’s Balsamic Sweet Onion 
• Southwestern US — Lay’s Southwest Cheese & Chiles 
• Southeastern US — Lay’s Cajun Herb & Spice 

A spokesperson for Frito Lay said, “Restaurants always lead new food trends, and for a long time, the leading innovations had an international flair. We borrowed flavours from Mexican and Caribbean foods, Asian cuisine and Italian and Mediterranean dishes to determine new chip flavours.

“We found that Americans loved exotic variety, but if we tried to be too different, the flavours wouldn’t catch on with consumers. For example, we once offered a meat-flavoured potato chip, inspired by a similar chip in England, but it didn’t do so well in the U.S. Americans wanted what we called, ‘mainstream — jazzed up.”