9 Classic Chips We Wish Would Return To Shelves

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The humble potato chip. It's a snack shrouded in mystery, its origins a matter of national and possibly even international dispute, but one that has retained a consistent, and consistently high, level of popularity throughout its history. What started a delicacy in restaurants is now one of Americans' go-to casual snacks. You'll find proof in just about every supermarket in the country, where at least one aisle almost completely devoted to the fried (or baked) potato chips.

Yet for all they offer, these shelves are incomplete. Many of the great potato chip brands and flavors that once dazzled hungry shoppers are just ... gone now. These classic chips may not be available anymore, but their memory lingers in the mind and on the tastebuds. Some of these brands and flavors border on the obscure but exist in the almost folkloric memory of those who loved them most. Others disappeared due to marketing realities and corporate consolidation. Here are some of our favorite classic chips we're hoping one day may see the fluorescent supermarket lights once again.

The name "Laura Scudder's" isn't one younger readers are likely to remember; they last were truly in production in the late 1980s. For a brief moment in time, though, they were one of the most iconic and innovative potato chip brands on the market.

The eponymous Ms. Scudder lived a extraordinary life, including being one of the first female attorneys in California. But then she pivoted to potato chips, and actually made serious innovations that helped make potato chips a more viable mass-market product. This includes selling them in disposable bags rather than barrels and glass jars and printing the manufacturing date on the bag itself. Yes, two aspects of potato chips you think of as just standard practice began with a brand you may not have heard of until now. 

Borden's bought Laura Scudder's in 1987 and the brand has more or less vanished from potato chip shelves ever since, with a few bags popping up here and there over the years. It is a real shame such an innovative product didn't find a way to stay on shelves, but the brand now has dip mixes and seasoning blends available in a variety of supermarkets. Maybe one day soon we'll find these iconic chips back alongside them.

You probably know the Keebler Elves, right? Adorable little mascots that bake cookies in what has to be the most fire-resistant tree ever? Well, turns out they once tried to branch out from cookies to crunchy, salty potato chips. And these chips were, according to their fans, amazing. 

Seriously, log onto Reddit and you will O'Boisies fans still gushing about these chips years later. They were only around from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, but the impact these chips seems to be timeless. The secret appears to be that O'Boisies were made from a potato dough rather than slices of potato, resulting in a thicker, sturdier chip with a substantial crunch and ideal for dipping. They also had a distinctly bubbly texture that fans went crazy for. Frito-Lay eventually drove Keebler to abandon its salty snack ambitions, but what delicious ambitions they were! 

Once upon a time, Planters, the same brand you know from Mr. Peanut, decided that the nut game wasn't enough and decided to branch out to chips. Actually, we said "once upon a time," but Planters tried this multiple times, and not even always with potatoes. PB Crisps  were crunchy, peanut-shaped ... things filled with sweet peanut butter. If you ask the internet, it was one of the best snacks of the '90s. But it was also not, strictly speaking, a chip.

Instead, we're here to talk about Planters Potato Chips. Oh yes, in that delirious era known as the 1970s , Planters decided to sell potato chips in tall cylinders with the chips stacked one on top of the other. Why yes, they were trying to compete with Pringles, the then-hot new chip on the block, although Planters went with a ridged variety. The results were ... mixed, shall we say, which is why the brand basically stopped trying in the 1980s. Yet if some voices are to be believed, these might have been even better than Pringles. Maybe we should bring these back for a little comparison? 

Oh don't you worry, we'll get to the name in just a minute. First let us take you back in time, to the 1970s. 

In the mid-'70s, Daddy Crisp was actually ahead of its time (not in the name department, obviously). Its creators hit on the idea of marketing it as the "all-natural" potato chip, well before all-natural became the marketing money-spinner it is today. Daddy Crisp commercials hit on all the notes that make organic food marketing so powerful — no preservatives, fresh ingredients, packaged warm and fresh. And while many products marketed as "organic" fail to live up to the hype, Daddy Crisp managed to build up a fanbase that it still talking about it decades after it sold its last bag. 

Why Daddy Crisp failed is a matter of speculation. Maybe it was just too ahead of its time. Or maybe, you know, it had something to do with called "Daddy Crisp" and using the tagline "Love Your Daddy." Rule one of any good product: make sure you don't name it something you would be embarrassed to say in public. 

If any flavor triggers fond recollections from potato chip connoisseurs across the U.S., it is Lay's Garden Tomato & Basil Flavored potato chips. These were only around for a few years in the 2010s but they left behind golden memories of being the favorite summer chip of practically everyone who was around to experience them. 

Don't believe us? Just scroll Reddit, or even Change.org, where there are petitions you can sign right now dedicated to bringing these chips back to shelves. Lay's even seemed to be considering a reintroduction of the flavor back in 2022, but it given the continued clamor for these, it doesn't appear that the company ever made good on that. It's a shame these haven't seen the light of day lately; the classic combination of tomato and basil were fantastic on a chip with a delicate balance of sweetness and earthiness that made each bite festive. 

This one may be unfamiliar to those outside New England, but trust us — there are generations of New Englanders for whom the words "Granite State Potato Chips" bring back delicious memories.

If the stories are to be believed, Granite State Potato Chips weren't just a long-standing brand. It was, quite possibly, the first commercial potato chip manufacturer in the United States, sometimes selling in bags but mostly in plastic buckets. For those proud folks of New Hampshire, Granite State Potato Chips was also the first company use the iconic Old Man of the Mountain in advertising. To say these were popular in New England is to undersell it. This was the iconic chip at in convenience stores and at barbeques throughout the Northeast for decades. Unfortunately, regional success never translated into national success, which caused the company to close its doors in 2007. 

When the Keebler Elves want to innovate, by golly they go for it. Pizzaria Pizza Chips aimed, as many chips do, to capture the full experience of pizza in chip form. But surprisingly, these might have come the closest. 

The secret is there were no spuds in Pizzarias. Instead, these chips were made from genuine pizza dough, capturing that authentic pizza-from-an-actual-pizza shop taste and creating a very satisfying crunch. But then, according to one of the two (yes, two!) Change.org petitions currently up trying to bring Pizzarias back to shelves, these chips also had a bold flavor of rich tomatoes, cheese, and classic pizza seasonings to really capture the beloved slice experience. The fanbase for these chips is truly passionate, with at least one Redditor mentioning they can still taste them in their brain years later. But despite the love, Pizzarias were unable to overcome the cost specialized production equipment or an acquisition by Utz and slowly disappeared.  

Whether these were a novelty or not, made quite the impression. And these chips might have proved that Lay's was actually a little ahead of its time when it came to making chocolate-covered potato chips, what with the influx of sweet and savory snacks over the years. (For the record, chocolate-covered potato chips existed prior to this, but primarily appeared on specialty candy shelves). 

Introduced for a limited time in 2013, the name says it all — these were wavy potato chips dipped in chocolate. It was an unexpected combo at the time, but a snack can't get much simpler. Hungry folks either adored them or found them to be lacking somewhat in execution, but few could deny they were delicious. Lay's really only intended these to be a select novelty, and the relatively high price and the small amount in the bag precluded them from becoming bigger. But with chocolate-covered potato chip recipes, videos, and social media posts all over the internet, now might be the time to bring them back. 

Some snacks become regional favorites but never quite manage to make it on the national stage. Such was the fate of Husman's Potato Chips, which were a beloved snack in the Queen City. 

Cincinnati had a special place in its heart (and collective stomach) for Husman's, and indeed regularly munched on these chips for more than a decade. Part of it was hometown pride — Harry Husman made his first chips in the city in 1919 and the brand manufactured them in Cincinnati until 2003. Utz eventually bought the brand in 2019 but ultimately decided to shutter it just two years later. The good folks on the official Cincinnati Reddit were torn between expressions of mourning a delicious classic and statements that maybe the chips had lost their edge — apparently Husman's flavor varieties such as green onion and salt and vinegar were something to behold before they stopped showing up on shelves. Regardless, a chip that inspires this such regional devotion and fond fond memories is certainly one we'd love to see back on shelves one day.