Keebler Chachos – The Retroist

I am not sure when I had my first tortilla chip. I am pretty sure it was a Bravo, which was the Wise companies’ answer to Doritos. Wise was big in my area, and I tended to be loyal, but when I had my first Dorito, I was smitten, and it became one of the top snack chips in my life. I didn’t think anything had a chance to get between me and those wonderful nacho cheese triangle chips, but in March of 1993, Keebler unleashed the Chacho upon the world. They weren’t exactly the same, but for at least a year after their release they were giving Doritos a run for their money.

Throughout my life, I have always loved walking through grocery stores looking for something new and the Chacho hit a sweet spot in its crossover appeal. I enjoyed the tortilla chip, but up until this point, I had only ever had ones made with corn, this one was made with flour. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time, I just saw a new snack food from Keebler, and took it home. As soon as I tasted it though, I knew it was different. The texture was lighter, so I consulted the bag trying to figure out what was different. I would like to say I was savvy enough to understand the label and spot the difference, but I had to go to my sister who quickly figured out that it was the flour vs. corn.

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It wasn’t just the texture that made Chachos interesting when compared to existing snack chips. They also added an interesting snack chip flavor to the mix. When you thought about tortilla chips in this era, probably two flavors came to mind first, plain and some sort of cheese flavor. Chacho had those covered. Their plain offering was nice and salty without too much of an oily taste that you often got with similar chips. Their cheese variety was called, “Cheesy Quesadilla.”

I was instantly attracted to the cheese-flavored (who wouldn’t be) and I liked the taste. If I were to describe them now, it would be by comparing it to chips that exist today, like a Dorito. By comparison, the chip itself tasted lighter and maybe flakier in some way. Flavor-wise they were also much milder. They weren’t light on the spice, but compared to the densely coated Dorito, they were much more subtle. At first, I found this charming, but after a few bags I realized that I was hooked on the more flavorful offering from Frito Lay. Luckily Chachos had a flavor that was unique amongst snack chips.

Just as an aside, I want to congratulate Keebler for using the word quesadilla in a product at this time. While, a lot of people in the United States were getting more acquainted with the word at the time, in many areas of the country it was still a word someone might read, but not really know how to pronounce yet. Then Keebler ran this great commercial that not only spells it out clearly, but also give a pronunciation. I know at this point in my life I knew how to pronounce it, but I am pretty sure this would be the first time older members of my family had heard and saw the word.

I mentioned two of the Chachos three flavors, the third one is what really made them stand out, Cinnamon Crispana. Never before did I have a cinnamon flavored snack chip from the grocery store and for the life of me, I cannot understand why they aren’t more popular. I was quickly taken with them and for about a year after they launched they were usually on my family’s shelf. The cinnamon flavor was clever since it took a shape and style associated with salty chips and pushed it toward something closer to a sweet snack, which was unusual on a shelf where sweet usually meant cookies or cereal rather than something shaped like a tortilla chip.

I wasn’t the only one who appreciated Cinnamon Crispana. A few years after they were released, I found a Super Bowl Recipe article and Rite Huffman sent in her simple, but delicious-sounding Cool Whip and Caramel Dip. What did she suggest you dip in it? Cinnamon Crispana Chachos, of course.

In 1995, they added a new flavor to the lineup, Salsa Verde. Another interesting addition to the lineup, it too had a mild flavor, but to its credit it was also slightly different from other chip offerings at the time. Unfortunately, it didn’t catch on and is hardly remembered. Although it was featured in a Keebler/Cinemax contest in late summer of 1995. Can you answer these trivia questions?

They also did this interesting partnership where you could send away (with 2 UPC Codes) for a Demo CD-ROM that included four Shanghai tile matching games plus the complete version of Sargon V: World Class Chess. It really captures the tech level of the mid-1990s.

Chachos made their first appearance in supermarkets in March of 1993. The earliest appearance I can find is from the 13th. While they probably went through testing in select markets before this, I am guessing this was the start of the nationwide rollout because after this mentions of them would start to spread.

They stopped appearing in stores just about three years later with the final mention of them I could find from a store selling them in Flint, Michigan on March 4, 1996. They are actually slightly cheaper per bag than they had been during their introduction.

Chachos faded out because they never found a strong place on the shelf, and they were trying to survive in a space ruled by the Doritos juggernaut. They were sold as a tortilla chip, but the flour base gave them a taste and texture that felt off to people who expected corn. Even the cinnamon flavor, which had some novelty, did not turn into steady repeat sales. Stores also moved them around instead of giving them long runs, and Keebler already had a crowded snack lineup that pulled attention away from them. For the people who liked them they were distinctive, but they never built the broad audience they needed to stand up to an established brand that dominated the category.

Chachos are just another failed product among thousands. One season you have a new bag that feels like it might become a steady favorite, then a short while later it is gone and the shelf looks the same as it always did. Chachos still come to mind when I walk through a grocery store, mostly because they remind me of a moment when companies were willing to try ideas that did not match what people expected from a tortilla chip. They never found the wide audience they needed, but during their brief run they added something new to my snacking. Even now I can picture the bag and remember how hopeful it felt to find something new that did not taste like everything else.