What happened to Manny's tortilla chips?

Tortilla chip fans in southeastern Wisconsin who like to support local businesses often find themselves choosing between El Rey chips, made in Milwaukee, and Manny's chips, made in New Berlin. But recently, Manny's chips disappeared from the shelves. Or did they?

Manny's chips have been re-branded, and are now being sold under the Chi-Chi's brand name. While the name is different, everything else is the same: No changes were made to the recipe, said Chi Chi's Brand Manager Dan Hofmeister.

While Manny's chips are still made in New Berlin, in 2005, the Manny's brand and its manufacturing plant were sold to the Hormel Foods Corporation. The Manny's and Chi Chi's brands are now owned by California-based MegaMex Foods, a joint partnership between Hormel and a Mexican company, Herdez del Fuerte.

Manny's was rebranded as Chi Chi's because the Chi Chi's brand is more recognizable nationwide, and the rebranding is intended to help grow the product, Hofmeister said. But just because the chips brand has changed its name doesn't mean the brand intends to loosen its ties to Milwaukee.

"We really have been committed to the Milwaukee area and have no plans of moving production out of there," Hofmeister said. "We hope to continue to ramp it up."

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