Frito-Lay

Herman W. Lay of Nashville, Tennessee, was a salesman for Sunshine Biscuits, which were manufactured by the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company in Kansas City, Kansas.
During the Depression, he lost his job. In 1932, he was hired by Barrett Foods, an Atlanta snack food firm, to sell peanut butter sandwiches in southern Kentucky and Tennessee. He was an aggressive businessman and began acquiring distributorships. When Barrett’s founder died in 1937, Lay bought the company, which included plants in Atlanta and Memphis. Popcorn, manufactured in Nashville, was the first product to have the Lay’s brand name.
Lay’s company began manufacturing potato chips in 1938. During World War II, the sale of potato chips increased in part because of the lack of competitive snack foods that contained sugar and chocolate due to rationing. By the end of the war, Lay’s had become a major regional producer of snack foods. After the war, Lay automated his potato chip manufacturing business and diversified its products. In 1945, Lay met Elmer Doolin, who manufactured Frito Corn Chips in San Antonio. Doolin franchised Herman Lay to distribute Fritos. The two companies cooperated on other products. For instance, Cheetos were invented by the Frito Company and were marketed by Lay in 1948. In 1958, Lay acquired the rights to the new type of potato chip, called Ruffles, which was a thick chip with ridges made especially for dipping.
Doolin died in 1959 and two years later his company merged with Lay’s, creating Frito-Lay, Inc., with headquarters in Dallas. The merged company continued to grow. Six years later, it merged with the Pepsi Cola Company, creating PepsiCo. By the end of the 1960s, Frito-Lay was the dominant company in the snack world.
Frito-Lay continued to innovate and develop new products. In 1966 it released Doritos, which became popular nationwide. Beginning in 1980, the company introduced cheese-flavored snacks, such as Puffed Balls. In 1988 Frito-Lay introduced Cheetos Cheddar Cheese Flavored Popcorn and launched a major promotion campaign starring Chester Cheetah, a cartoon character targeted at children and young adults. Rold Gold brand pretzels were introduced in 1989 and were subsequently promoted by Seinfeld television star Jason Alexander, who appeared as Pretzel Boy. Basketball stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Larry Bird advertised a new reformulation of Lay’s potato chips in 1992, and the slogan “Too Good to Eat Just One” was launched. In 1993, Doritos Thins brand tortilla chips were introduced nationally with Chevy Chase as the celebrity spokesman. As Americans became concerned with obesity, in 1966 the company introduced baked potato chips with fewer calories.
Frito-Lay has acquired other food companies, such Grandma’s brand cookies in 1980 and Cracker Jack in 1997. Frito-Lay is now the largest snack food conglomerate in the world.