America is a land of options, but when it comes to potato chip flavors, it's got nothing on China.
May we submit for evidence the case of Lay's.
On any random mainstream American supermarket chips aisle, you'd likely see the trifecta of yellow Classic, black Barbeque, sky blue Salt & Vinegar — flavors that are comforting in their very predictability.
On the store shelves in China, the varieties are so novel and plentiful to the Western mind that they have spawned their own niche of social media tributes.
Endless wild flavors
Spiced Braised Beef flavor? Check. Hot & Sour Chicken Feet. Why not? Craft Beer flavor to wash it all down. Say no more!
Thanks to that thing called global trade, it's never been easier to find these inventive flavors in the United States — they're available for purchase on e-commerce sites from Amazon to those specializing in Asian snacks like Weee! or Yami.
Get 'em in L.A.
But if you simply can't wait, there are plenty of places in the Los Angeles region to get your haul, like direct-to-consumer Asian grocery warehouses like NT Foods in El Monte, Kiki Lins in Temple City or GoGoSonic in Irvine. Yes, they all look like Costcos, but with shelves and shelves of snacks, food and cooking supplies from Asia.
DuoDuo Snacks
About a year ago, Jason Lu and his business partner started DuoDuo Snacks to sell cookies, chips and other good stuff from China and Asia to online customers. On weekends, they'd open up their Pomona-based warehouse for Southern Californians to shop in person.
Soon, the two decided to level up their business, by going full retail in a 9,000-square-foot space in a popular stripmall in Rowland Heights.
"We thought we'd be able to better showcase our products in a retail store," said Lu in Mandarin. "And we think it's best if we can do this seven days a week."
Scouting for the right location took about a year, Lu said. Designing and renovating the space took several months. Gone is the no-nonsense utilitarian vibe of a warehouse; in its place is a roomy, well-lit space where you'd want to linger.
"We wanted the space to feel a bit more trendy," Lu said.
Lu added that the majority of DuoDuo's customers are Chinese and Asian Americans, drawn to the store's selection of snacks, drinks, cute knick-knacks and even skincare products. Non-Asian shoppers, he said, tend to gravitate toward familiar American brands with an Asian twist, like green tea ice cream flavored Oreo cookies, or the two dozens or so flavors of Lay's potato chips from China that DuoDuo carries, including Cucumber, Tomato Style Hot Pot, and Braised Lion's Head Meatball.
Lay's Chinese success story
Since China's economy opened up to the rest of the world in the late 1970s, American companies had been eager to sell their products to the country of more than 1 billion.
Frito-Lay entered China in 1993, but it wasn't until four years later that Lay's launched its first potato chips in the country — "salty flavored" — according to Forbes. Three decades later, the chips brand is now among the most popular in China, in large part due to its ability to captivate fleeting tastes with a constant stream of new flavors, often by harkening to regional and hyperlocal palates.
A tally of the total number of Lay's flavors that have ever been released in China is difficult to come by, as some bags were discontinued, and others were available only for a limited time.
Currently, the company sells about 40 different varieties of potato chips in the country, according to Lay's Chinese website. Among all the new and experimental flavors is a mainstay whose light yellow packaging will be familiar to all consumers on this side of the world — American Classic Flavor.
