Lay's China Ups its Snack Game With a New Range of Unique Localized Chip Flavors

Lay’s has upped its localized snack game with a new range of creative, and slightly bizarre, Chinese chip flavors. They've also collaborated with a few recognizable local brands to give weight to what may have otherwise been a branding exercise in weird for weird's sake. 

For example, the new flavors include salted duck egg and roast pork zongzi from Wu Fang Zhai, marinated duck neck from Zhou Hei Ya, Beijing duck from what is seemingly an endorsement from the Beijing tourism administration, and the strangest of the lot, crisps the flavor of White Rabbit candy. 

Since Lay’s expansion to China in 1994, the US Pepsi-Co-owned company has quickly dominated/saturated the chips market with flavors that vary in their level of experimentation. And like many other multinationals that go abroad, the success and acceptance of Lay’s has stemmed from its carefully planned localization business strategy, adapting to the tastes of different cultures and enticing consumers to eat their chips through familiar but unique seasonings.

Not only has Lay's addressed the tastes of Chinese consumers as a whole, but they consider regional variations as well. For example, in China's fiery Sichuan province and surrounding areas you can find packets of numbing and spicy hotpot chips, while Beijingers can now proudly feast on their very own Peking duck variety.

And with that, on to the tasting!

Lay’s x Wu Fang Zhai - Salted duck egg and roast pork zongzi

With Dragon Boat Festival nearly upon us, it makes sense that Lay’s would experiment with a new zongzi flavor. Acknowledging that sticky rice by itself doesn't make for an inspiring chip, they've decided to stuff this variety with salted egg yolk and roast pork.

Conclusion: Fans of salted egg will be happy to hear that it outpowers the roast pork, making for a slightly sweet combination that has notes of Lay's roast chicken-flavored chips more commonly available in the West. 

Lay’s x Zhou Hei Ya - Spicy duck neck

The hugely popular brand of braised duck snacks, Zhou Hei Ya, is already visible on many a commercial corner of Beijing’s streets. Now they're one step closer to snack domination, seeing their signature item's flavor bagged for convenience store shelves too.

Conclusion: The blend of smoky and spicy elements was the most authentic to the original item on the list, and we're quite fond of the lingering chili.

Lay’s x Peking Duck

What says "quick Beijing snack" more than a bag of Peking duck-flavored chips? While this edition is not the product of a collaboration between specific local brands, the iconic image of the Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests plus the "Limited Beijing Flavor" (京味限定 jīngwèi xiàndìng) seems like Lay's received Beijing's seal of approval to promote the city. 

Conclusion: The boldest chip of them all, you'll first notice the strong barbecue flavor, which gives way to a slight, sweet hoisin flavor at the back of the throat.

Lay’s x White Rabbit - White Rabbit candy

At this point we’ve seen White Rabbit made into ice cream, milk tea, and even perfumes/vapes. But Lay’s is surely the first to try and put a savory spin on the milk flavored candy. And despite being an otherwise strange mashup, just by virtue of featuring the White Rabbit brand – one that has huge nostalgic value among several generations of Chinese – these are likely to be a hit.

Conclusion: The sweet aroma resembles that of the Korean honey butter chips and the milky taste is surprisingly true to the original White Rabbit candy. I'm not sure we could polish off a bag but the sweet-savory combo is surprisingly edible nonetheless.

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Images: Joey Knotts, Nicole Sun