Snack time of the 1970s — before the health-conscious boom and still riding packaged snack food’s initial rise — was a sacred era. Foodies could start the day with a Carnation Breakfast Bar, have a Snack Pack pudding for lunch, and rip into a bag of Pizza Spins after school. One nostalgic Reddit post calls Pizza Spins the “ultimate 70’s snack,” with one commenter waxing, “Ah yeah! I ate a ton of those whenever I had the munchies.” Folks could flip the Todd Rundgren record while a pizza warmed up in the microwave (the appliance gained prominence in U.S. households during the early ’70s). Totino’s frozen pizza brand alone was worth tens of millions of dollars by the early 1970s. But thanks to Pizza Spins, foodies of the Disco Decade didn’t have to preheat the oven or beg their parents to buy a brand-new microwave to enjoy a taste of pizza flavor.
If you don’t remember them (or weren’t born yet), Pizza Spins were pizza-flavored, wheel-shaped snacks with a zesty, cheesy, slightly spicy flavor. The Pizza Spins box was designed with a red, white, and green color scheme as a nod to the Italian flag, and printed with a descriptive tagline that promised “all the true delicious pizza flavor in a munchy, crunchy, mouth-sized snack!”
Pizza Spins were wheel-shaped, pizza-flavored, and gone in 7 years
This crunchy snack was essentially a pizza in chip form, flavored with parmesan cheese, tomatoes, pepper, and pizza spices. The shape resembled a wheel with spokes, or a round pizza with the slices cut out. Other novelty shaped snacks produced by parent company General Mills during the 1960s-1970s era included Bugles, Whistles, and Daisy*s. As the brand declared, “We take the tastes you crave … and make them go crunch!” with offerings like onion-flavored Onyums and corn-flavored Bugles. Nowadays, Bugles are the only member of the ’60s chip era that remains on the contemporary market.
Alas, Pizza Spins faded like a sentimental sunset by the end of the decade. The snack’s short-lived run only lasted from July 1968 through 1975, and it remains unclear why exactly they were discontinued. Pizza Spins even won the Putnam Food Award in 1969. Still, despite only having a seven-year stint on the market, Pizza Spins accrued an enduring fanbase that remains strong half a century later.
’70s-era Pizza Spins fans never forgot and fought for another taste
A Facebook group called “We Miss Pizza Spins!” is dedicated to spurring the snack’s comeback. But, judging by a letter General Mills purportedly sent to the group in 2023, fans shouldn’t expect Pizza Spins to return to grocery store shelves any time soon. After much reaching out and petitioning, an apparent response from General Mills explains that the product’s discontinued status “could be for a variety of reasons, ranging from insufficient consumer demand to ingredients no longer available or other supply chain constraints, whereby it’s just no longer feasible for us to offer the product with the high quality and competitive pricing that consumers know and expect.” The reply also encouraged disappointed consumers to embrace one of General Mills’ available products as a new favorite.
Commenters remained unappeased. “They came out with 4 different snacks back in the 60’s and kept the worst one. Bugles,” wrote one disappointed fan. “Just give us a limited Bugles flavor variety and gauge further interest!” suggested another nonplussed poster. Another impassioned protest to the General Mills response insisted, “Insufficient demand? I’d buy cases!” Apparently, pizza-flavored Combos and Chex Mix just don’t hit the same — that is, if you can remember the taste of O.G. Pizza Spins. If not, here are 14 more vintage snacks that no one remembers anymore.
