Flavored Chips Boom: Why Sales Are Soaring | L’Express

They crisp, they crack, they ripple. Dozens of flavors of flavored chips accumulate on the shelves of this small grocery store in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Some tickle our childhood memories, like the many regional flavors – the Flemish carbonade chip jostles with its comrades flavored with aioli or Jura cheese – while others capitalize on the tastes and smells of a certain comfort food, popular with the general public. Hamburger, teriyaki, kebab or even falafel: brands compete in ingenuity to play with the codes of street food. Ah! How distant the time seems when the aperitif section was filled with a variation of old-fashioned salty chips…

“In 2020, there were on average 109 different crisps references in a hypermarket. Five years later, we are at 125,” points out Emily Mayer, director of Business Insights at Circana, a market analyst who studies French consumption based on products purchased in a panel of supermarkets. “A double logic is at work among consumers, according to her, a desire for new things which pushes brands to constantly innovate and at the same time, a desire to rediscover familiar tastes which evoke trendy exotic perfumes or those from the French region”.

The recipe seems to work. From 61,000 tonnes of chips sold in French hypermarkets in 2014, the market reached more than 90,000 tonnes this year, an increase of 47% in twelve years according to Circana. Crisps even crush all the competition: on average, a reference of crisps sells better than tiles, seeds and all the other products found in the “salty grocery” section.

As with many consumer products, it is the private labels that undoubtedly reign on the shelf. “They alone monopolize a little less than 40% of the market,” explains Emily Mayer, the rest of the sector being dominated by three major brands: PepsiCo (Lay’s), Intersnack (Vico) and the Breton Altho (Brets). In recent years, “we have observed a real dynamic on the side of Brets and Vico” points out the expert from Circana. Little by little, these two brands are gaining market share from the historic leader, notably by focusing on new flavors. But Lay’s hasn’t said its last word.

“We are a historic, transgenerational brand, which created market codes and which remains essential today,” defends Thomas Thibord, head of the Lay’s brand in France, specifying that 4 out of 10 French households buy products from the brand at least once a year (Kantar 2025 barometer). For the PepsiCo group, salty peasant chips remain the panacea since they still represent almost half of its sales. Like its competitors, the brand is also betting on aromatic diversification with new “best-sellers” such as Roscoff onion or Jura cheese chips. “Innovation represents 20% of our growth today, it is not negligible,” underlines Thomas Thibord, who is preparing for a very rich year 2026, with the launch of around ten new products, almost as many as in the 2022-2025 period (14 innovations over four years).

Everyone has their own scent

Among our neighbors too, flavored chips are very popular, even if there are very marked local specificities. “When I arrived at Lay’s, I was convinced that the “Barbecue” and “Roasted Chicken” flavors were absolute blockbusters almost everywhere in Europe, says Thomas Thibord. In reality, it is a very French prism. The sale of these products is much more marginal beyond our border. Other flavors are more commonly favored by our neighbors such as “Salt and Vinegar” crisps, a must-have across the Channel, much less popular here. Similarly, it is the “Paprika” flavor that is most popular in Germany and the Netherlands, while Latvians and Spaniards prefer tomato-flavored chips. Moreover, on the other side of the Pyrenees, “Lay’s Campesinas” – “peasant women” in Castilian – are also very successful although they are very different from French peasant chips. Their aroma: a mixture of garlic, tomato and Provencal herbs.

“It’s a very dynamic market,” argues Emily Mayer, at Circana, “with a very strong desire to consume locally and, at the same time, great ease in renewing the repertoire.” Consequence: the success of the crisp is observed throughout Europe, including beyond our borders.

In France, the average consumption of chips per capita is around 1.7 kg each year, or barely 100 grams above the European average. Among some of our neighbors, conversely, it sometimes exceeds 2 kg per inhabitant per year. We find the British on the first step of the podium, with nearly 21 packets per inhabitant sold each year (or almost 3 kg), followed by the Dutch with more than 13 packets and 2.7 kg of crisps per inhabitant. Winter and summer, at picnic time or during aperitif dinners, the popularity of chips continues unabated. In the coming years, the shelves of the grocery store in the 18th arrondissement of Paris should be further expanded.