the $85 potato chips conquering the internet
“We never thought it would give us such international repercussions.” I spoke with the 90-year-old Galician brand Bonilla a la Vista—and with Meredith Hayden of Wishbone Kitchen…
“We never thought it would give us such international repercussions.” I spoke with the 90-year-old Galician brand Bonilla a la Vista—and with Wishbone Kitchen—to learn how a family-run churro shop grew into a global culinary status symbol. I wanted to understand how this niche company exploded in popularity, landing in the mouths of influencers and movie stars around the world. Along the way, I also learned of a surprising twist involving the brand in South Korea.
Bonilla a la Vista fries up just two potato chip varieties…and if we’re being completely honest, they are both the same plain flavor, just with or without salt. Oh, and one tin could cost you a cool $85 in the United States — not even accounting for new tariffs that may take effect in 2025. The most obvious difference between Bonilla a la Vista chips and other brands is that they sell a few sizes in large metal tins, similar to paint cans. Like most Spanish foods, these potato chips are cooked in olive oil, which also distinguishes them, especially amid a largely unsubstantiated panic over seed oils. With its blue text and sailboat logo, Bonilla a la Vista tins are visually appealing and add drama to an otherwise everyday and humble snack.
The pricing for these chips seems like a free-for-all. Meredith Hayden, the chef behind Wishbone Kitchen, remarked in a video, “I can’t believe I’ve been paying $45 for these every time I buy them” – in reference to the brand’s 275g tin. The chips seem to be the most expensive on Amazon, where the 500g tin sells for $85—meanwhile some reviewers paid $58, and Despaña in New York sells the 275g size for $49.50 and the 500g for $64.
Where I live in Madrid, Bonilla a la Vista chips are easy to find, sprinkled around in numerous Galician bakeries and specialty stores. They’re also a great deal cheaper than in the US, but adjusted for the cost of living, still a premium-but-pricy option. A bakery on my street sells their 150g bag for just €3.75, and I find the largest 500g tins at the local market for €20.
I recently bought a tin for a party I was hosting, and the chips were a huge hit. Now, the empty tin lives on one of my bookshelves as decor. As an American living in Spain, I have trouble predicting which Spanish trends will make it across the pond and which will remain here. I wanted to know how this niche Galician company made their way around the world and into the mouths of famous influencers and movie stars. Was it the flavor? The aesthetic? The price?
The brand’s unique packaging seems to draw in attention, whether you notice the price or not. Meredith Hayden, a private chef and influencer, mentioned in her video that she didn’t realize at first how expensive they were, since the purchase was lumped in with a huge shopping trip for a client.
I was curious how she originally learned of the brand, since before I realized the stir they were causing in the US, they just seemed like a normal part of life in Spain. Meredith told me, “I’d say I was drawn to them because of the packaging. I was shopping for clients so I always look for the highest quality products. I didn’t put a ton of thought into the purchase, it was really a snap decision and the unique packaging instantly conveyed to me that it was a superior product compared to its competitors.”
While some shoppers will choose brands solely based on price, it is a valuable lesson for brands to know that others may decide based on the packaging. Being the odd one out in a category will definitely invite attention.
Bonilla a la Vista was born in 1932—not as a chip brand, but as a churro shop opened by Salvador Bonilla and his wife María Dolores in Ferrol, a small city in the northwestern corner of Spain. The husband and wife duo lived in the seaside town for 17 years, where they ran their churrería and a small hotel, before moving to the capital of the province, A Coruña.
In A Coruña, they were still primarily known for their churros fried in olive oil, but soon, they started serving potato chips too.
The chips were a local hit. In the beginning, Salvador and his son César stayed up all night frying the chips, while César’s wife and her mother ran the front-of-house during the day. They packaged the potato chips in 1-kilogram cans and printed out labels designed by a local printing house. After eight crazy, busy years under the Franco dictatorship, they were forced to suspend potato chip production due to a shortage of resources and the economic hardship of the times.
Following Franco’s death in 1975, Spain transitioned to democracy. In 1988, 30 years after they abandoned making these beloved potato chips, César Bonilla, the son of the original owner, decided to open up a proper factory in Spain and attempt chip production once more.
The recipe is and always was simple: high-quality potatoes, olive oil, and sea salt (although they do offer a salt-free option too). A spokesperson for the brand wrote to me, “Each generation started from scratch, absorbing the company's values as part of their daily work.”
By 2000, the churro business continued to grow, and the Bonillas opened new locations in Spain. A decade later, their chips spread beyond Spain, gaining traction in select circles with a feature at Paris’s iconic La Grande Épicerie and a cameo in a Balmain photo shoot.
In 2016, when Bonilla a la Vista popped up in South Korea, they sold out in two hours! In 2019, the famous chips were even featured in the Academy Award winning movie, Parasite, which spiked online sales 150%. In January of 2023 an unlicensed company started operating a shop called Bonilla Churros in Korea, using Bonilla a la Vista’s name and logo. In an Instagram post from January 2024, @bonilla.churros.korea revealed that they opened their location in Hannam after a distributor who claimed to represent the brand approached them. As it turned out, the distributor acted completely fraudulently and did not represent the actual Galician brand at all. Despite running a successful business, the owners of Bonilla Churros in Korea shut down and filed a criminal complaint against the distributor.
While Bonilla a la Vista maintains that their chips are still traditional and artisanal, they’ve also invested hundreds of thousands of euros in new technology to detect and discard burnt potatoes. Bonilla also still operates six churro locations in A Coruña.
The high price and the attention from influencers like Wishbone Kitchen have made these chips into a status symbol, perhaps more than anything else. As delicious as they are, Bonilla a la Vista chips are just really plain chips, and you might be paying more for the attention that comes with spending $85 on one of the most basic snacks in the world.
It’s not surprising to me, as a food content creator, that the Bonilla a la Vista chips became so popular viral – they couple perfectly with other recent trends like the caviar craze; Spanish nachos, they avoid seed oils which have been demonized online (despite no solid evidence); and they are packaged in a practical, aesthetically appealing can. We all know sometimes the key to online popularity is a bit of controversy-–Bonilla a la Vista chips have that too due to the online discussion of their astronomical price. Recently, Bonilla a la Vista released a collaboration with Zara Kids.
A spokesperson for the brand summarized: “Our can opened the door for us to consumer memory, to the cinema, and, of course, to Hollywood. We never thought it would give us such international repercussions, but year after year our foreign markets grow, and sometimes we find it difficult to keep up with all the requests we receive from around the world to sell our products. Especially from gourmet stores, which is very flattering”.
