Why Are American Chips So Boring?

The search for the most broadly acceptable flavor is how chip development is done everywhere. However, what is considered “broadly acceptable” changes from country to country.

“They don’t base their decisions on the magnitude of preference, they base it on the mean of preference.”

As always, it appears commerce is the death of art. Decisions are based on what has already been sold to people already buying, not what could sell to people who didn’t even know they needed king crab with XO sauce chips in their life.

“It astonishes me how much that analysis shows nothing,” says Lang. “It’s still peanut butter and jelly, pizza, ham and cheese, macaroni and cheese, hamburgers. The bulk of the country hasn’t changed at all.”

“The innovators are only two and a half percent of the population; those are the people who are always first in trying and sharing new things,” he says. “And the early adopters are 13 and a half percent.” That roughly 16 percent of the population comprises those who may be interested in these new flavors. As it goes, that’s not enough to change the... See more

“You can build a generally acceptable targeted product in a more ethnically homogeneous country,” says Cohen. The U.S. is huge, diverse, and has tons of regional differences. “So when you start doing traditional consumer testing, it’s about the lowest common denominator.”