Voodoo Chips (History, Marketing & Commercials)

If you love Cajun food and have been missing creole cooking in your life, then you will love Voodoo Chips. These chips have a really interesting history and were actually made by accident! If that doesn’t intrigue you into wanting to give them a go, then probably nothing could entice you to try them out. There is something delightfully irreverent about the way that Voodoo Chips and their sibling products are made, and you will love how unique these products are.

Chips are everywhere these days, and it seems like almost every major food company sells at least one kind of chip. It can be hard to find any products that actually stand out from the crowd. However, Voodoo Chips do just that, and for all the right reasons! These chips are not sold everywhere, but you can order them, and you should consider doing so if you want to enjoy one of the best Cajun chip products around.

History

Voodoo Chips are made by Zapp’s. This company cooks and packages its chips in Louisiana. These are kettle chips that are made with peanut oil rather than vegetable oil, which gives them a really different texture and flavor than other kettle-cooked chip products. Zappe struggled to get financing for his business for a whole variety of reasons, but he was finally able to get a bank loan to launch his company. The manufacturing plant was opened in a former Chevrolet dealership, and a lot of local teens were able to find much-need work at this location, helping to get staffing sorted out right off.

The first product made by Zapp’s was the Cajun Crawtator, which was the first spicy chip of this kind to be sold in the US in 1985. These were the chips that he handed out on the street corner, and there are almost as popular as Voodoo chips. They are certainly the best-known of the chips that the company makes, even if Voodoo is often everyone’s favorite.

Zappe took his first chip bags to busy intersections in East Jefferson. This was how the chip company got on the radar of snack lovers, and his hustle was enough to build the brand into a successful presence. Zappe had lots of clever ideas as well, like the 1-800-HOT-CHIP hotline that you called in to to ask about getting Zappe’s chips or licensing the chips as the officially-licensed food product of the New Orleans Saints football team. The chip hotline is still active, and you can still call it to get Zapp’s sent to you. They send out mixed samples as well, which can be really fun if you have never tried these products before.

The company is clear about their Cajun heritage, and they only make varieties of these chips that would be familiar to anyone who loves Creole and Cajun cooking as well as barbeque. Ron Zappe is the owner and founder of the company, and he ended up in the chip business when his oil company went bankrupt in 1980. 

Voodoo chips are the most popular of the chip company’s products these days, despite being the result of an accident in the kitchen. Someone was making another kind of chip and spilled all the seasonings off a top shelf. As they were cleaning up the mess, someone stuck a finger into the spill and declared that it was really good. This blend of five different flavors was then created as a unique new potato chip product and christened “Voodoo”.

Voodoo chips have a vinegar base, kind of like a salt and vinegar chip, and it also comes with a hint of barbeque sweetness. There is a sharp and spicy jalapeno finish to the chip, and you also get an Old Bay note that is really classically Cajun in nature. This is technically a limited edition chip, but it sells so well that it never quite goes off the shelves of the locations that sell Zapp’s chips.

Voodoo is probably the best-known and most-loved flavor of this product. Even though Zappe has passed away, the chips are still being made at the original company location. This chip is not sold throughout the US and still maintains a regional sales model that is confined mostly to the South. However, you can order these chips and enjoy them wherever you reside. Or you can plan a trip to Louisiana and experience them in the state that gave birth to them!

Companion Products

The company makes many unique chip products that are all made with Creole and Cajun spices in mind. The other kinds of chips that Zapp’s makes are: 

• Spicy Cajun Crawtator
• Sour Cream and Creole Onion
• Cajun Dill Gator-tators
• Regular Flavor
• Hotter ‘N Hot Jalapeno
• Mesquite BBQ
• Voodoo
• Mardi Gras- Limited time flavor
• Caribbean Key Lime – limited edition flavor
• Pizza- Limited edition flavor
• Sizzling Steak- Limited edition flavor
• Honey Mustard- Limited edition flavor
• Bacon and Cheddar- Limited edition flavor
• Evil Eye 2- Limited edition flavor
• Voodoo Heat

The chips are all kettle-cooked and use the same basic cooking process. The only difference is the seasonings for each variety.

Zapp’s has also done some really fun licensing chips over the years, like Zapp’s Tiger Tators and Who Dat? Chips for the New Orleans Saints team. These varieties were not sold outside of the stadium, so you would need to go to games to be able to get your hands on them. This was great for sales of tickets on gameday and also really good for Zapp’s as it gave the products more visibility. 

Zapp’s also sells pretzel sticks that they have named Pretzel Stixs. These also come in Voodoo flavor and Jazzy Honey Mustard. They also sell canisters of the seasoning itself, so you can season everything in your house with Voodoo seasoning if you want to!

Ingredients

From a CVS entry for Voodoo chips:

• Potatoes
• Peanut Oil or A Blend Of Peanut Oil And Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Or Sunflower Oil
• Sugar
• Salt
• Sodium Diacetate
• Torula Yeast
• Dextrose
• Onion Powder
• Autolyzed Yeast Extract
• Citric Acid
• Garlic Powder
• Paprika And Turmeric Extract
• Paprika
• Spice
• Natural Smoke Flavor

The flavorings will change slightly for the Voodoo Heat version of these chips, but otherwise, all of the Voodoo chips products are made this way. This has been the recipe for as long as this variety of chips has existed. Voodoo Heat is just spicier than the regular Voodoo, but the basic recipe is the same. You cannot get Voodoo Heat seasoning on its own like you can the regular Voodoo seasoning, so if you love this flavor but with more spice, you will need to enjoy it on the chips.

The chips are gluten-free but are not otherwise free of allergens. Many kettle chips are a great choice for those with gluten allergies, and this brand is no different.

Nutrition

Serving Size:	1 package (57g)	% Daily Value*
Amount Per Serving
Calories	300
Calories from Fat	144
Total Fat	16g	25%
Saturated Fat	3g	15%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	480mg	20%
Total Carbohydrates	34g	11%
Dietary Fiber	2g	8%
Sugars	2g
Protein	4g
Vitamin A		0%
Vitamin C		20%
Calcium		0%
Iron		0.7%

• Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet.

Livery

The bags for the Voodoo variety of Zapp’s are clever. The background is black, and there are colorful little Voodoo dolls all over the bag. The Zapp’s logo is done in yellow print that is curly and looping laid over a white banner that slashes across the top of the bag. There is a French Quarter-style street sign complete with a lantern at the top, and the street sign says “Voodoo” on it.

This is one of the marketing genius ideas of Zappe, since you immediately understand what you are going to get inside the bag. If you are at all familiar with Southern food items, you will know that these iconic items indicate that you are getting Creole and Cajun-inspired chips that will offer you that Southern cooking flair that you cannot get anywhere else.

Voodoo chips have always been marketed in a really simple way, but that does not mean that these bags are not effective. You know exactly what you are getting when you pick up this chip, although the actual flavor might be a surprise. The connection to New Orleans cuisine is made really clear in the design of the bag, and for those who are familiar with Creole and Cajun cuisine, this bag will instantly tell you what the product inside is all about.

The livery for gameday chips was slightly different as it needed to advertise the teams in the stadium as well as the chips, but all of the other products share a common theme in their livery decisions. The other chip bags have red and white stripes on them and show the same streetlight and the same banner with the company logo on them. They are color-coded for the flavor in the bag but are otherwise consistent with one another. The Voodoo chips are the only bags that are different from these. The Evil Eye chips also have a different, almost haunted-house theme that departs from the striped design.

Logo

Pictures

Commercials

A Voodoo chips ad:

A taste test video:

Another taste test video:

A How It’s Made Video about Zapp’s Chips:

FAQ