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It’s official. Lay’s chocolate-dipped version of its Wavy potato chip will be available in US stores starting next week.

Chocolate-covered potato chips are not new and have been produced by smaller food companies, albeit mostly as a novelty food or in limited batches due to their short shelf-life. But with the world’s largest snack-maker venturing into this territory, chocolate-covered potato chips may soon become a regular feature on your grocery list.

For now, Lay’s is releasing this salty-sweet flavour in a limited edition for the holiday season in the US. But if it sells well – and why wouldn’t it – we can expect to see it in India pretty soon too. But be warned – one bag packs in a deadly 800 calories. Read some reviews here and here. As you will notice, the chips are not fully covered in chocolate but only dipped on one side. While the glutton in us will feel cheated, as the reviewers note, it actually helps retain the saltiness that we all love and crave in our chips. So it’s all good.

As it is being reported, the chocolate-covered potato chip is Lay’s response to a growing demand for savoury-sweet combinations, primary from young women. More importantly, as Bruce Horovitz from USA Today notes, it points to an even larger trend of increased snacking. ” Some 43% of consumers now snack three to four times daily vs. 24% in 2009, according to Symphony IRI, the research specialist,” he writes in his article.

While it may take a while for us to get a taste, we already love the gourmet food-like packaging that’s sure to appeal to women. Photos of the chips display a rather generous one-sided dip in milk chocolate. Let’s hope the chocolate-covering doesn’t thin out in the Indian version whenever it hits the market!