Chicago now has its own Willy Wonka golden ticket — sort of.
Instead of a golden ticket, the coveted item is a bag of green potato chips.
"One in 20 bags have actual green chips inside, the color of a shamrock," said Laura Gardner, founder of Local Style Chips.
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, Gardner has launched a green chip scavenger hunt featuring the company's newest, limited-edition chip flavor: Green Beer.
"If you find one of those bags with actual green chips, you are a winner," she said. "You win an instant prize redeemable on localstylechips.com and are entered to win free chips for a whole entire year."
The new flavor, she said, is inspired by the ceremonial dyeing of the Chicago river every St. Patrick's Day.
"If we could make a river green, what if we can make our chips green?" she said.
And the flavor honors Chicago's rich craft brewery scene.
"We wanted to capture that in the essence of a chip," she said. "We wanted it to feel like you were at your favorite craft brewery enjoying beer, so those notes of the hoppy flavor, really refreshing, really crisp, really bright, a little tinge of citrus."
You can buy these limited-edition chips online or at one of the hundreds of stores and delis that carry Local Style. You can also purchase different St. Patrick's Day bundles that include merchandise like hats, hoodies and koozies. They feature Local Style's St. Patrick's Day beer character Patty, named after Gardner's mom.
If your bag contains green chips, all you have to do a snap a photo of them, follow and tag @localstyle chips and post the photo on social media. Then DM Local Style a photo of the post, and you'll win an instant prize and be entered to win 365 bags of chips.
Gardner said the goal is to give back to the city.
"We just want to keep showing up for Chicago," she said. "We have most amazing foods and most amazing culture, and the more flavors that we can bring to the city, the happier we'll be and the more fun we'll be having with Chicago."
The contest started Monday and goes through March 17.