Lay's has a few more tricks up their sleeve; the snack giant will be releasing chocolate covered potato chips as early as next week.
A five-ounce bag of the salty-sweet chips will go for $3.49, USA Today reported.
Combinations of sugar and salt have been gaining popularity in the U.S., ice-cream filled with pretzels and other similar snacks have left Americans wanting more. These types of snacks are especially popular in the market between Halloween and New Year's, and many are "limited-time-only."
Lay's has been pressured to come up with new and exciting products, partially because 43 percent of Americans now snack three to four times a day compared to the24 percent reported in 2009.
"Flavors are getting more sophisticated and complex," Tom Vierhile, innovation insights director at DataMonitor, the consumer products research firm, told USA Today. "We are seeing more products that may pair traditional flavor opposites [like sweet and salty]."
Since Lay's has always been a beloved salt giant, a transition into sweet snacks may be difficult. Since the company is not sure how the snack will be received it will only be sold at Target stores and will only be available through the holidays.
Ram Krishnan, vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay, said if the product sells well Lay's will consider adding it to their permanent snack collection.
"When you try something drastically different, you have to walk before you can run," Krishnan said, USA Today reported. "We wanted to test our way through this before we go big."
"[The chips] gives us latitude to offer other flavor combinations that we've never done," Krishnan said.
Krishnan hinted future flavor experiments could include white chocolate, dark chocolate, and peppermint.
USA Today cited a number of salty-sweet snacks that have hit U.S. shelves over the past few years, including: "Kettle Maple Bacon Potato Chips, Planter's Sweet & Salty Snack Mix, ConAgra's Crunch 'n Munch and even Sweet 'n Salty Bugles."
