Whatever Happened To Baked! Doritos?
Baked! Doritos were one of the various attempts Frito-Lay made in the early 2000s to mix up the Doritos formula. The gimmick, as the exclaimed "Baked!" might give away, was that the Doritos were baked, not fried. This made them somewhat healthier than their fried counterparts as they had less fat due to the reduced oil used in making them. According to reviews for Doritos Baked! Nacho Cheesier and Doritos Baked! Cooler Ranch on Taquitos.net, they debuted around 2002 to 2003.
Now, you can't find Baked! Doritos, much to the ongoing distress of fans. However, Frito-Lay still offers a Baked line of products. These consist of Cheetos, Lays, Ruffles, and Tostitos — in short, everything but Doritos.
The discontinuation of the Baked! Doritos provoked some vocal responses of fans on social media. The first outburst of ardor for the missing baked chips was when, in 2012, one person wrote in full caps on Doritos's Facebook page, "WHAT HAPPENED TO BAKED DORITOS?" The Doritos account explained that the brand was still available, but in the years since comments have gathered complaining that Frito-Lay stopped making Doritos and how much they miss the product.
A small fandom can't resurrect a product
It stands to reason that Frito-Lay simply found that Baked! Doritos didn't earn enough profits to warrant its continuation. Unfortunately, some people really loved Baked! Doritos. In fact, the affection a small percentage of Frito-Lay's consumer base has for the product is clear in the comments of a 2014 post made directly to their corporate Facebook account. In the post, a person begged that since they can only eat Baked! Doritos, could the company bring the product back? Here, Frito-Lay explained how some of its products don't make the cut to their favorites list, implying Baked! Doritos failed.
What's remarkable is that since then, commenters kept asking for Baked! Doritos, with the latest request made on March 27, 2021. Occasionally, Frito-Lay would reply with a statement saying that while they are glad Baked! Doritos has fans, they have no intentions of resuming production, but they will inform the Doritos team.
On September 4, 2020, the original poster returned, dispirited. "[Six] years later from my original post...and FritoLay doesn't care to listen to their own customers. If they did, they would make the Baked! Doritos again and they would have more customers buying their product again." While the way the company has held out from satisfying such a staying request might amaze some, their decision to ignore makes more sense when you realize that as of writing, this post has only received 66 reactions and 150 comments. Though vocal, that's simply not enough.