General Mills launches new range of bowl-shaped Old El Paso tortilla chips

USA – American branded consumer goods company, General Mills has expanded its Old El Paso Mexican food brand with the launch of new bowl-shaped chips.

Called Tortilla Bowls, the new range is designed for scooping and dipping a range of sides, from guacamole to salsa.

According to General Mills, the sea salt-flavoured product has been developed to partner with different fillings to create appetisers or crunchy canapés.

The Old El Paso brand includes dinner kits, tacos and tortillas, taco seasoning, sauces, condiments, rice, and refried beans, looking to provide consumers with Mexican food.

Tortilla Bowls will be available in the UK from June in both grocery and convenience stores.

“At Old El Paso, we believe happiness is eating food with the people we love, and we exist to create these easy, noisy, talky, shared moments,” said Lindsay Hill, marketing manager for meals and baking at General Mills.

“Tortilla Bowls build on this, offering another tasty part of a Mexican meal that can be passed around and enjoyed.

“We’ve had great feedback so far – in our consumer testing, 73% of consumers said they’d serve Tortilla Bowls as a starter, while 53% said they’d make a great canapé, which shows just how versatile they are.”

The new range follows the launch of ‘premium’ meal kits under the Old El Paso last August, with an aim to tap into growing consumer demand for convenient, restaurant-quality meals at home.

The premium variants, available in Tesco stores include smoky chipotle taco meal kit with a cool mango drizzle, habanero and lime taco meal kit with a coco ancho drizzle, and ancho chili and honey fajita meal kit with zesty drizzle.

Expansion of the Mexican brand is driven by increasing out-of-home consumption in the UK, thus the need to address the changing consumer tastes and preferences.

In January, the company launched new Fiber One cereal made with real strawberries in the US.

According to the company, the Fiber One Strawberries and Vanilla Clusters has 35% of the daily recommended value of fiber in every one-cup serving.

In the third quarter ended February 24, 2019, General Mills reported 8% increase in net sales to US$4.2 billion, boosted by the acquisition of Blue Buffalo Pet Products.