Doritos Locos Tacos Flavored Chips To Hit Grocery Stores April 8, Plus A Contest To Win The Taco Bell Chip Spawn Before Release

First there was the nacho cheese-flavored Taco Bell Doritos Locos Tacos. Then there was the Cool Ranch Doritos version. Now, both of these popular Doritos flavored-taco varieties will come in a bag, thanks to the latest spinoff from the maker of Doritos.

Frito-Lay North America, a Plano, Texas-based subdivision of PepsiCo, announced it will debut Doritos Locos Tacos flavored chips on April 8. Yes, you read that correctly. The chip-flavored tacos, a fast food favorite, will be the newest chip variety from Doritos, slated to hit grocery store shelves in the upcoming month.

“Doritos Locos Tacos will become chips 4/8! Your chance to win a #DoritosPallet: tell us how bold you'd go to try them,” Doritos announced on Twitter on Monday.

The newest chip flavor will come in both Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch varieties, the company said. Best yet, a lucky winner in Doritos’ Twitter contest could win 66 11-ounce bags of Doritos Locos Tacos Nacho Cheese-and-Crunchy Taco-flavored tortilla chips and 66 11-ounce bags of Doritos Locos Tacos Cool Ranch-and-Crunchy Taco-flavored tortilla chips, valued at $566, ahead of the launch. To enter the contest, simply respond to the tweet from @Doritos and include the hashtag #DoritosPallet and say what you would do with 132 bags of the new chips. Entries are judged on “boldness,” according to the company, but keep it clean, folks.

PepsiCo had previously announced it would release a line of limited-edition chips riding the wave from Taco Bell’s great success using the Doritos product as a shell for its tacos. The company’s chief financial officer Hugh F. Johnston said during a financial conference this year: "We are gearing up for year two of our Doritos partnership with Taco Bell with even more exciting new products." But never would anyone have guessed the newest product edition would be a spinoff of a spinoff.

The latest move to turn the chip-flavored taco into a chip-flavored taco-flavored chip is likely Frito-Lay’s way to monetize the concept by spinning off variations of the initial product. Though the move may seem bizarre, a Doritos Locos Tacos flavored chip does make sense, since Doritos already created – and still successfully sells – a taco-flavored chip in 1968. In fact, Doritos have been a staple snack for years ever since the flavored corn tortilla chip was created in 1964. Arguably, so has Taco Bell, since it was purchased from Glen Bell (who created a concept store in 1946) two years prior in 1962.

With nearly equal success over the years, the merging of the two franchises for the release of the Taco Bell Doritos Locos Tacos last March was a no-brainer for the fast food chain. Many have said the Locos Tacos have been the most successful product of all time at Taco Bell, according to Restaurant News, prompting the company to add Cool Ranch flavored tacos earlier this month. The fast food chain reportedly sold more than 350 million of the first Doritos Locos Tacos since it was unveiled last spring, accounting for 7 percent of all items sold at Taco Bells nationwide and giving the company a 13 percent boost in sales.

And it appears now, Frito-Lay wants in on the cash cow for its own product line.

Even more of a reason for Doritos to expand with new products is the mounting competition from another division in Pepsi-Co, Lay’s Chips, which has spawned countless varieties of potato chips over the years. Most recently, Lay’s came out with Chicken & Waffles, Cheesy Garlic Bread and Sriracha flavored chips as part of its “Do Us A Flavor” contest, the company’s first in its 75-year history. According to the company, a panel of chefs and flavor experts narrowed down 3.8 million submissions to about 20 flavors to prototype and voting in the general public will continue through May when a winning chip flavor will be selected.

Stay tuned for the verdict on the Doritos Locos Tacos flavored tortilla chips when they become available on April 8.