💌 Love Philly? So do we. Let’s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today.
Herr’s has begun the search for its next “Flavored by Philly” champion and, after a brief format switch to recognize America’s 250th birthday, it’s once again asking its fans to suggest flavors based off of their favorite local food spots.
“In Philadelphia, food isn’t just food. It’s pride, passion and a topic everyone has an opinion on. That’s why, for the sixth year of Herr’s Flavored by Philly, Local Eats is back, ” said Ed Herr, executive chairman of the Chester County-based chip company.
Fans have until Nov. 2 to nominate their ideas for a potato chip inspired by a food from a Philly-area restaurant or company.
A panel of judges will choose the best three crowdsourced flavors, which will be created and launched by early summer 2027 for the public to try and vote for an overall winner.
The restaurant or company that inspired the winning flavor will get $10,000 while the fan who nominated it will get $5,000. During the eight-week summer voting period, there will also be a weekly draw for a Herr’s gift basket.
“From neighborhood favorites and local legends to hidden gems, we can’t wait to see what the city will decide are the three undeniably Philly flavors for this year’s contest,” Herr said.
Billy Penn has held taste-tests at WHYY’s Philly office for every edition of the “Flavored by Philly” competition, which have predicted the winner every time – and provoked a plethora of complimentary and derogatory opinions.
Here’s a recap of past editions of the competition so you know the previous winners, nominees and palate pleasers from the past four years.
The inaugural edition in 2022 pitted three fan-created Philly flavors against each other: “(215) Special Sauce,” “Long Hots with Sharp Provolone” and “Wiz Wit.” “Long Hots and Sharp Provolone” winning the popular vote. The chip’s inventor Ryan Reigel, a Philly transplant originally from DuBois in central Pennsylvania, said the inspiration came from the long hots and provolone that were a mandatory addition to the John’s Roast Pork sandwich he and a friend ordered before Eagles games.
Year 2 was when the competition began spotlighting local businesses. The chosen flavors were “Korean BBQ Wings,” inspired by Mike’s BBQ in South Philly; “Roast Pork Sandwich,” inspired by John’s Roast Pork in South Philly; and “Tomato Pie,” inspired by Corropolese Bakery in Montgomery County. The Tomato Pie chip prevailed.
The trio of contestant flavors for year 3 were “Special Hot Stromboli,” inspired by Romano’s Stromboli in Essington, “Potato Pierogi,” inspired by Mom Mom’s Kitchen in Southwest Center City, and “Cheese Ravioli and Marinara,” inspired by Talluto’s in South Philly. Romano’s and the “Special Hot Stromboli” won the voting that year.
Instead of three new flavors, last year had a battle of champions between the three previous winners, with the victor earning a spot in the company’s permanent lineup. The “Long Hots and Sharp Provolone” was crowned champion of champions, and made a forever chip.
For the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations, Herr’s asked the public to define liberty, freedom and unity as a chip flavor. Liberty’s barbecue choices to vote on were “Liberty Roasted Garlic BBQ,” “Liberty Hickory BBQ” and “Liberty Hot Honey BBQ.” Freedom was deemed cheesy and “Freedom Loaded Cheese Fries,” “Freedom Cheesy Crab Dip” and “Freedom Cheesy Bread” were the choices. For unity, voters had the spicy trio of “United Jalapeno Cream Cheese,” “United Lemon Pepper” and “United Mango Habanero” to select from.
“There’s really not necessarily a correlation with the flavor and the word as much as there is just people enjoying snacks and thinking about the fact that — whether we’re having a cookout or something like that — we’re celebrating our freedom, our liberty, our unity with this 250-year celebration,” he said when Billy Penn tried to overthink the link between the values and the flavor categories.
Philly voted that America’s birthday and its ideals should taste like “Freedom Loaded Cheese Fries,” “Liberty Hickory Barbecue” and “United Jalapeño Cream Cheese” — like cheese, barbecue and more cheese.
