Whatever Happened To 3D Doritos? - Mashed

• Facts

Whatever Happened To 3D Doritos? By Joel Stice April 24, 2020 11:27 am EST Twitter

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

The snack world is full of chips, cookies, and other foods that developed a rabid following in their short lifespan. Doritos has experimented with chip flavors for years, but they were really thinking outside of the box when the introduced 3D Doritos. The nacho cheese flavor that fans loved was still there, only now the chips provided a 3D crunch that took things to the next level. Frito-Lay introduced the chips in 1998 with a commercial starring Sean Hayes and Ali Landry, but by the early 2000s, 3D Doritos were no more.  

Why would Frito-Lay deny its fans the deliciousness of nacho cheese tortilla chips in 3D form? The truth isn't exactly known, but Frito-Lay has hinted that the chips probably weren't selling as well as the company hoped they would. A fan reached out to the company via Facebook in 2013 and Frito-Lay said, "While most of our snacks have a passionate fan following, not all of them make the favorites list." The person running Frito-Lay's social media told the fan they'd "pass along your feedback."

Another 3D Doritos Snacker said that he wrote a letter to Frito-Lay and got a similar response. A woman named Tina with Frito-Lay's consumer affairs department wrote in an email, "We understand each brand or flavor will end up being a front runner for someone. We wish we could carry them all. Regrettably, some snacks must be discontinued in order to make room for new ideas and the ever-changing market demand."

You can still get 3D Doritos, but there's a catch

Twitter

While some snack foods truly do die and never return, others just seem to go into hiding from the masses. Toy and food blog Dinosaur Dracula uncovered that 3D Doritos do still exist and were being made as recently as 2016. The catch is that they're only made and sold in Mexico. The Mexican version of 3D Doritos is also said to have a queso flavor that isn't quite as bold as the old nacho cheese flavor. 

If you don't feel like heading south of the border, you can grab a bag on eBay. The particular listing we found ships from Rio Grande, Texas. So yes, somebody is in the business of driving across the border to Mexico to buy Doritos for the purpose of selling them to snack-deprived Americans. 

Recommended