Pickles are one of those foods that people either love or hate. Some people can munch their way through an entire jar and still crave more, while others blanch at the sight of them and pick them off their burgers.
However, now a snack company is aiming to launch a new brand of chip, which will apparently replace potatoes with fried pickles as a healthier alternative to starch-rich spuds.
Pickle chips will be launched by Conagra Brands Inc, a Chicago-based conglomerate which owns the Vlasic pickle company, and is seeking to bolster its $2 billion business by expanding into new segments.
Speaking to Food Business News, Thoma McGough, co-chief operating officer and executive vice-president of Conagra Brands, stated: "Pickles have always been a flavour that people have loved in snacks, whether it’s potato chips or even in our Bigs Vlasic dill sunflower seeds."
He added: "But pickles themselves are a great snack, essentially no calories or carbs. But eating pickles out of a conventional jar is inconvenient and messy, and pickle snacks are actually becoming a thing, particularly in c-stores. So we’ve created Vlasic single-serve pickle slices and also a Vlasic vacuum-fried pickle chips that taste absolutely fantastic."
However, McGough added that the new product "requires agile innovation, novelty and experimentation, winning at the point of purchase with the right price/pack architecture and disruptive displays and having the deep channel intimacy to increase distribution everywhere snacks are sold."