Pringles, the Mars, Incorporated salty-snack brand with global retail reach, is adding two product lines to its portfolio this September: Pringles Dippers, a thicker, wavier crisp engineered for dipping, and a Sweet & Salty extension to its Mingles puffed-snack range. The launches represent the brand's most significant structural departure from its classic parabolic crisp format in recent memory.
The Products
Pringles Dippers are built around a scoop-like, curved form factor that the brand describes as thicker and sturdier than any crisp in its existing lineup — a design intended to reduce breakage during dipping. The line launches in three flavors: Original, French Onion, and Bacon Cheddar. The move targets a well-documented pain point in the salty-snack aisle: standard thin crisps fracturing under the weight of thick dips such as guacamole, queso, or hummus, categories that have posted consistent volume growth at retail over the past several years.
The Mingles expansion adds a Sweet & Salty variant to the bowtie-shaped puffed-snack line, layering brown-butter sweetness against a salted finish. Mingles occupies the lighter, air-puffed segment of the salty-snack shelf — a format that has attracted investment from multiple major snack manufacturers as consumers seek perceived permissibility without sacrificing crunch.
Why It Matters
The dual launch reflects a broader strategic imperative at Mars Snacking North America following the company's acquisition of Kellanova, which brought Pringles under the Mars umbrella. Mars has cited combined net sales of more than $65 billion across its snacking and food divisions, giving the parent substantial distribution muscle to accelerate new-format rollouts. For Pringles specifically, format innovation — rather than pure flavor proliferation — marks a shift in how the brand intends to compete for share in the roughly $10 billion U.S. salty-snack segment.
"We know it can be frustrating if your typical salty dipping vessel prevents your perfect scoop or breaks as you dip, which is why we've created Pringles Dippers," said Eileen Flaherty-Yao, Senior Director of Salty at Mars Snacking North America. "Between this innovation and the Sweet & Salty addition to our Mingles lineup, Pringles brings you new ways to take on your favorite snack."
Retail & Competitive Context
Both products will be available at retailers nationwide beginning in September, according to the company. No pricing or suggested retail figures were disclosed. The dip-ready crisp format is a contested space: competitors including Tostitos and Cape Cod have long marketed thicker, scoop-shaped chips to capture the dip-occasion consumer. Pringles' entry, arriving in a canister format that differs from flat-bag delivery, could appeal to convenience-channel and club-store buyers who favor the brand's shelf-stable, stackable packaging.
For foodservice and hospitality operators, the Dippers format may also present incremental placement opportunities in catering and snack-bar contexts where pre-portioned, dip-ready crisps can command a modest premium. Analysts tracking snack-food innovation trends have noted that format differentiation — distinct from mere flavor line extensions — tends to generate stronger first-year velocity at retail, a metric Mars will be watching closely as it integrates Kellanova's legacy brands into its broader snacking portfolio strategy.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
