The Real Reason These Potato Chip Flavors Were Discontinued

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Whether it's a barbecue, a ball game, or the welcoming arms of a La-Z Boy, we can always count on potato chips to have our backs. That is until we discover our favorite flavor is missing from the shelves, having vanished overnight like some cruel magic trick. Anytime one of our ride-or-die snacks is discontinued, we're left feeling hollow inside with nothing but a grumbling stomach to show for it. We can't help it. In this topsy-turvy world of ours, reaching into that grease-stained bag during a Netflix binge is one of those small indulgences that put us at ease. When that's gone, what else do you have?

For a potato chip flavor to be discontinued, there's usually some explanation of why the company got rid of it in the first place. But most of the time, they seem to disappear without so much as a heads up to longtime customers. It's a frustrating, albeit understandable, grievance. But none of this is done to mess with dedicated snackers and their tastes. The real reason any flavor is phased out can be attributed to multiple factors. Among them are low demand, tight competition, business woes, and in rare occurrences, public health scares. Here, we'll take a trip down memory lane to revisit the potato chips of yore who've graced our cupboards and the real reasons you won't find them in stores today. 

When junk food icons merge, beautiful things are guaranteed to happen. One great example of this is a snack the masterminds at Doritos and Pizza Hut launched together in the 1990s called Doritos Pizza Cravers. A teenager's dream snack all the way down to its blindingly-orange cheese dust, these triangular delights tasted like the best of both brands. A 1996 commercial shows the kind of chaos these chips unleash when a hungry camper takes a bite — namely, a fleet of beavers (puppet beavers) chopping and sawing their way to a fully-formed log cabin under the tagline "Life With Doritos" (via Reddit). 

But later in the decade, Doritos Pizza Cravers were nowhere to be seen. Now, being discontinued had nothing to do with its popularity. Not even close. The real reason these chips disappeared from shelves, and eventually people's memories, was because of a business shake-up. Frito-Lay's parent company PepsiCo, which also owned Pizza Hut, created a separate department for its fast food portfolio now known as Yum! Brands. As seen by the company's timeline per Zippia, this shift lines up with the snack's departure from its ties with Pizza Hut and its eventual retirement. Recent rumors, according to Delish, have hinted at a flavor in the works that are inspired by pepperoni pizza, so we'll be keeping our fingers crossed the nostalgia comes back in some capacity. 

Pizzaria Pizza Chips were a home run for Keebler when they launched in 1991 (via Retroist). Besides being one of the brand's biggest sellers per Snack Food Association, these chips were made out of actual pizza dough, baked to a crispy finish with mouthwatering seasonings. No wonder it was a hit. And even though every kid's (or gamer's) fingers were stained with them, they never made it to the new millennium. The snack aisle was forever left with a permanent, pizza-shaped hole that hasn't been filled since, even with a Facebook group that's currently almost 7,000 members strong. 

It's clear that demand, or lack thereof, was not the issue responsible for Pizzarias' demise. It turns out, that Pizzarias disappeared through the cracks of Keebler's business dealings. In the late 1990s, Keebler's parent company United Biscuits decided to put Keebler for sale, and they were promptly gobbled up by two other conglomerates, Artal Luxembourg and Flowers Industries, per Zippia. As a result of the move, a number of Keebler products ended up getting scrapped from production. Guess what sadly got the boot? Pizzarias, that's what. Not all potato chips are meant to stick around forever, but Pizzarias was not your ordinary chip. And with the exception of those lucky enough to have snacked on them at their peak, they remain a distant memory. 

What American doesn't love ketchup? There's no limit to what can be dipped, dunked, and drenched with the zingy condiment, and going by that logic, a ketchup-flavored chip was only a matter of time. So the fact that Pringles Ketchup was only available in Canada and Europe before making its way to the U.S. is, frankly, quite shocking (via Teen Vogue). At first glance, there shouldn't be anything unusual about this Pringles flavor. French fries are made of potatoes. Ketchup is made from tomatoes. The seasoning includes flavors found in the real thing, like salt, garlic powder, and paprika (via Pringles), and it's also a brilliant red color. Just like the real thing. 

That being said, none of it stopped Pringles from pulling it out of production — at least in America, anyway. On Twitter, the company cited lower demand as its reason for discontinuing the flavor in 2020. Since it came out in 2017, that means it vanished within a matter of three years. It's still sold in Canada, which is the best bet for any U.S. fans wanting to get their hands on it. For an option that doesn't guzzle gas that can be found at every convenience store on the block, Pizza Pringles. Those aren't going anywhere, thankfully. 

Ask any Cincinnati resident about salty snacks, and the chances of Husman's coming up are a guarantee. Beginning as a one-man operation in 1919, generations have found comfort crunching on a bag of Original chips as well as flavors such as Bar-B-Q, Sour Cream & Onion, and Cheddar & Sour Cream (per Utz). The brand even reached its 100th birthday. Simply put, these potato chips have been around for a long time. Long enough to feel like forever. So imagine seeing the news last year that parent company Utz was discontinuing the entire Husman's label, thus ending a century-long legacy in the junk food business. 

According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, it was dwindling profits and low demand that sealed Husman's fate. Utz revealed that the brand struggled to match the competition of other nibbles on the market and forced the snack supplier to make some cuts to the lineup, resulting in the "difficult decision" to get rid of Husman's altogether (via WCPO-TV). To Utz's credit at least, there would be new snacks rolling out with the same staff employed as before. Still, fans were intent on treating their tastebuds one last time, to the point of customers zipping from store to store to grab the remaining bags, per Journal-News. Gone, but definitely not forgotten. 

When it comes to snacks, the "sweet yet salty" combination is unbeatable, like other classics that combine sweet and savory or sour flavors. And for a long time, chocolate-covered pretzels or nuts were the go-to sweet yet salty snack to harness any craving — until Lay's released a milk chocolate-covered potato chip flavor, that is.

According to USA Today, Lay's released the limited-time flavor in response to the growing snack trend of combining sweet and salty flavors like ice cream with chocolate and pretzels and chocolate-covered everything. Tom Vierhile, an innovation insights director at DataMonitor, told USA Today that more companies were embracing the pairing of flavor opposites, as the trend skyrocketed to sweet twists to popcorn and even savory snacks like Bugles and Combos.

The flavor was reportedly meant to be available in stores just for the 2013 holiday season. Still, fans on Reddit proposed other possible reasons why the flavor was discontinued, from a lack of demand to its possible short shelf life (and even an improper scientific chocolate-to-chip ratio). After it left grocery store shelves, Lay's chocolate-covered chips made a limited-time-only comeback for Valentines Day 2021 (via Thrillist). It was a gift that, appropriately enough, mirrored how love can sometimes be: salty, sweet, and short-lived.

As we already know, chocolate-covered chips are an amazing specimen of snacking creation. However, Pringles took things to a weird new level with their Pringle's dessert flavors, ranging from milk chocolate to pecan pie and pumpkin spice. No, there is no delicious candy coating here — just a dusting of mystery sugar, spice, and things that aren't so nice.

Pringles typically released these quirky limited-edition dessert potato chips around the holidays for an alternative holiday treat. In 2012, they started with flavors like white chocolate peppermint, pumpkin spice, and cinnamon sugar (via Today). Then, in 2016, Pringles released its take on holiday classics in the form of salted caramel, sugar cookie, and pecan pie potato chips (via Consumerist).

That said, even if these chips weren't available for a limited time, they'd still be discontinued quickly due to the sheer amount of negative feedback they received. HuffPost reported that the pumpkin spice flavor was "not revolting" but not a slam dunk, while the white chocolate flavor was considered a "horrible abomination to humanity." Today reported similar findings in a taste test, with the cinnamon sugar flavor as the unanimous best (but not the greatest). Meanwhile, the white chocolate peppermint variant was compared to "a thin layer of toothpaste." Outlier flavors like pumpkin spice and pecan pie were solid, but not on-the-nose enough to make them worthy of the desserts that inspired them. Here's hoping that this snack trend won't come back in style anytime soon.