Baked Lay's Salad Chips: How R&D Helps Drive China Business

PepsiCo research and development leveraged Lay’s potato chips’ strong equity in China to introduce a new and unexpected snack for consumers.

Last year, research and development leveraged Lay’s potato chips’ strong equity in China —a leading potato chip brand in the country—to introduce a new and unexpected snack: Baked Lay’s Salad Chips.


The savory snack, developed at PepsiCo’s Shanghai Research and Development Center, exemplifies how the research and development team innovates regionally, customizing global products to appeal to local palates.

(Click picture to watch video)

Corporate video presentation of PepsiCo's Shanghai R&D Center

The team calls this syncing up of the global and local “glo-cal.”

The Foods Innovation Team, led by research and development’s Tjin Dewi, adapted PepsiCo’s existing baked chip platform to appeal to Chinese consumers’ texture and taste preferences.

After the team validated with consumers the idea of baked potato chips with vegetable inclusions, outside chefs were engaged to help formulate 10 separate flavor-combinations. With the help of Chinese consumers, who sampled each in focus groups and in their homes, the 10 potential new products were narrowed down to three.

For the research and development team, the journey from leveraging deep consumer insights to product design meant unlocking complex scientific and sensory solutions.

First, the chips needed to contain locally relevant flavors. Next, they had to be lower in calories and in sodium—yet still great tasting. Finally, the chips needed to include visible vegetable bits of real tomatoes and parsley to deliver on the “salad” promise.

The team delivered against each objective. In particular, real food pieces and a seasoning application system made it possible to deliver new, novel and locally relevant tastes to consumers. This is an example of how research and development, with its PepsiCo commercial partners, is helping to drive the business and contribute to top-line growth.

Launched across China in three flavors—Original, Tomato and Beef, Yogurt Cucumber—Lay’s Baked Salad Chips were enthusiastically received by Chinese consumers. They have become part of a successful PepsiCo China snack portfolio that grew by double digits in 2013.