Doritos’ reformulation lessons explained
- PepsiCo made enhanced crunch the selling point of a recipe overhaul that reduced salt and fat
- Testing in the Netherlands assessed repeat purchase and manufacturing consistency before the wider European rollout
- Moving products outside HFSS classification can reopen prominent retail opportunities and support further brand investment
Changing a familiar recipe means risking the very qualities that keep people buying it. PepsiCo’s European Doritos overhaul tackled that challenge by making a crunchier chip central to its salt and saturated fat reduction programme – giving the brand an eating benefit to promote alongside the nutritional improvements.
“We actually had multiple routes to achieve the sodium and saturated fat reduction; however, we chose the bold crunch route as we felt it best resonated with the consumer,” says Karen Scott, VP of marketing innovation for PepsiCo Europe.
Following the European rollout, PepsiCo reports that Doritos recorded 20% growth and attracted 2.1 million new consumers over two years, supported by distribution, promotion and marketing. The project began with testing in the Netherlands before expanding across European markets, including the UK.
Whatever they produce – from biscuits and chocolate to yoghurt and soft drinks – manufacturers have to balance nutritional improvements with consumers’ expectations of a familiar recipe. Doritos’ experience offers a useful look at how to protect those qualities while developing an eating benefit worth promoting and testing whether the revised product can be made consistently at factory scale.
Why PepsiCo chose a crunchier chip
“The project began with the ambition to improve the nutritional profile, and the teams deliberately kept several options open before selecting the route that connected most strongly with the brand promise,” says Scott.
Keeping those options open allowed the team to consider how each recipe would support the way Doritos was sold. The nutritional requirements guided development, while the brand’s association with bold flavour and crunch helped determine which version reached consumers.
In the UK, the new recipe introduced in October 2024 contained more corn, with changes to the cooking process and seasonings. Classic flavours Cool Original, Tangy Cheese and Chilli Heatwave moved onto the thicker chip base already used for Dippers and Extra Flamin’ Hot.
Compared with the recipe it replaced, the new UK formulation contained up to 18% less salt and 14% less total fat, moving the products into non-HFSS classification. Recipes elsewhere were adapted to local requirements and preferences.
“Once teams saw its potential, we deliberately made that enhanced crunch central to the proposition,” says Scott. “We stayed rooted in what Doritos represents to people, which is a bold taste and distinctive eating experience.”
Taste also carries considerable weight in purchasing decisions beyond the snack aisle. The International Food Information Council’s (IFIC) 2026 Food & Health Survey found it influenced food and beverage purchases for 88% of Americans, compared with 78% for price and 56% for healthfulness.
A recipe change promoted primarily through its nutritional improvements could therefore overlook what many shoppers value most. Doritos gave consumers a change they could notice when eating the product and linked it to something they already associated with the brand.
Other producers will need to identify which improvements matter to their buyers while development options are still being assessed, giving technical and marketing teams a shared objective before the final recipe is selected.
Testing beyond the development kitchen
Changing Doritos required work on both ingredients and processing, bringing together R&D, seasoning, regulatory, brand and local-market teams to reduce salt and saturated fat while managing the effects on flavour delivery, texture, stability and shelf life.
PepsiCo’s wider R&D operation includes more than 2,500 associates across 19 centres worldwide, with nutrition scientists, seasoning specialists, chefs and product developers supporting changes across its food and drink portfolio.
“Progress in this space is rarely about a single breakthrough,” says Tara Glasgow, PepsiCo’s chief science officer and executive VP of research and development. “It is the result of thousands of decisions informed by science, consumer understanding and rigorous testing.”
Doritos also presented the difficulty of changing a product that consumers already knew well.
“It is much easier to create something new against a specific target than to reinvent an existing product while matching a very clear consumer expectation,” notes Scott. “The complexity was that we were not trying to create a different Doritos.”
Existing buyers already know how their favourite product should taste and feel, making familiarity an important constraint on development. The revised recipe also has to perform consistently on the production line, where conditions differ from those used to develop an early sample.
PepsiCo used the Netherlands to assess both sides of that challenge before expanding, using repeat purchase rates and sales data alongside in-market product testing.
“The in-market testing was important because a product made at factory scale can behave differently from one produced in a laboratory,” says Scott. “It allowed us to test both whether the product could be manufactured consistently at scale and whether the ‘Bolder Crunch’ proposition resonated with consumers on shelf.”
Repeat purchase reviews helped the team assess whether buyers returned after trying the revised product, while factory production allowed it to evaluate consistency before a broader rollout. Local teams could therefore base their launch decisions on how the product performed in production and in stores.
Expansion across Europe still required flexibility, with consumer acceptance, regulation and existing product portfolios influencing how the recipe was introduced.
“The ambition is consistency in the core brand experience, particularly bold taste and crunch, with enough flexibility to make the proposition locally relevant,” she adds.
Manufacturers pursuing international growth face a similar decision about how much to standardise. Doritos used its recognisable flavour and crunch as a guide, while allowing the details of formulation and execution to reflect individual markets.
How recipe changes can reopen retail opportunities
The commercial benefits of reformulation can also extend to where shoppers encounter a product.
“In some markets, the renovated product helped Doritos return to more prominent retail space following changes in regulations,” says Scott.
England’s HFSS location restrictions, introduced in October 2022, limit placement of specified products classified as high in fat, salt or sugar at entrances, aisle ends and checkouts in qualifying stores, alongside equivalent online locations. Moving outside that classification can therefore open merchandising opportunities that were previously restricted.
That gives producers another consideration when assessing the cost of a recipe overhaul. Changes to ingredients and production may also affect retailer support, product visibility and the opportunities available for subsequent marketing investment.
“One of the upsides of the evolution was that we have created a stronger platform for resilient growth by ensuring the brand was aligned with consumer expectations, retailer commitments and the evolving regulatory environment,” says Scott. “That has given local teams greater confidence to invest behind Doritos and build the brand over the longer term.”
Beverage and dairy producers are facing their own reformulation decisions. UK Soft Drinks Industry Levy changes scheduled for January 2028 will lower the sugar threshold from 5g to 4.5g per 100ml and remove exemptions for milk-based and milk-substitute drinks with added sugar, with an allowance for lactose in milk-based products.
Previous regulation has already helped drive reductions in sugar. Purchasing data show that between 2015 and 2024, sales-weighted average sugar content in drinks covered by the levy fell 47.4%, while purchased volumes rose 13.5%, reflecting changes in both the products sold and consumer purchasing.
But reducing sugar, salt and fat is only part of the work involved in improving a product’s nutritional profile. PepsiCo is also pursuing opportunities to add more diverse ingredients. Alongside its sodium reduction goals, the snack giant aims to deliver 145 billion portions of these ingredients annually across its global convenient foods portfolio by 2030. Existing products include Tostitos with 8g of whole grain per serving and Simply Doritos with whole grain in the US, giving manufacturers another consideration when revisiting recipes: what they can add as well as reduce.
Whether adding ingredients or reducing them, manufacturers therefore need to give the commercial opportunity as much attention as the nutritional target from the outset.
PepsiCo selected a Doritos recipe it could promote through crunch, tested whether consumers returned and whether factories could deliver it consistently, then supported expansion through distribution and marketing. Cutting salt and fat helped Doritos regain access to prominent retail space, but the crunch gave shoppers a reason to pick it up once it got there.
