Doritos Enters The Jerky Market With Jack Link's Partnership

The team behind Doritos has made it pretty clear that it knows how to keep fans on their toes. Earlier this year, in January, Doritos dropped a new BBQ flavor, and before that, Tangy Tamarind hit the market last summer. Even the Doritos Instagram account is a meme-lover's goldmine, regaling fans online with photoshopped spoof products like Nacho Cheese Shampoo and Cool Ranch Conditioner. Now, the beloved chip brand is launching out of the gate with a new product that (unlike the comedic pastiches that fill its social media) is very real and available in stores now. Introducing: Doritos beef jerky. (You read that right.)

In partnership with Jack Link's, Dorito's parent company PepsiCo is launching the new snack product to expand the beloved chip's scope across the snack food market. Judging by photos from the official Jack Link's Frito-Lay website, it looks like the new jerky is "marinated" in the classic Doritos flavors rather than being coated in flavor-dust like Doritos chips, which might make this new jerky offering appealing to foodies on the go who want to keep their fingers clean. For now, it comes in two flavors (Jack Link's Doritos Spicy Sweet Chili and Flamin' Hot) available as both beef jerky and meat steaks – but it could mark the beginning of a new snacking era for PepsiCo.

Prior to this latest move, PepsiCo has been pushing many of its other chip brands into different arenas in the snacking market with products like Cheetos Popcorn. Last year, PepsiCo released Doritos-brand chip dips (Cool Ranch Jalapeno and Spicy Nacho). According to Frito-Lay's vice president of marketing, Leslie Vesper (via Food Dive), this expansion hopes to capitalize on the recognizable Doritos brand name and flavors, catering to the chip's already-existing fanbase.

Jack Link's first hinted at its upcoming Doritos collab at the 2022 National Association of Convenience Stores conference, reports FoodBeast. Per a press release, the new Jack Link's Doritos products are available now at retailers nationwide, and it looks like they could be arriving at the perfect time. According to recent snacking trends, foodies are snacking more lately, with many if not most consumers considering snacks as essential food staples and factoring them into their routine grocery trips, reports Euromonitor International.

In fact, snacking as a meal replacement has emerged as a popular dining trend for 2023. In light of this trend, analytics experts expect consumers will "flock to convenient, healthy and indulgent snacks," per Grocery Dive, continuing last year's domination of salty and savory offerings over the snack market. Meat sticks and jerky snacks drew a whopping $4.6 billion in sales in 2022 alone. Now, enter the high-protein snack flavored like a hot chip. We see you, Doritos.