Frito Lay

Frito-Lay North America (FLNA) is a division of PepsiCo, Inc. which manufactures, markets and sells a variety of corn chips, potato chips and other snack foods. FLNA is headquartered in Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The company's current form is the result of a 1965 merger of Frito-Lay, Inc. and the Pepsi-Cola Company, which resulted in the formation of PepsiCo, Inc. Products sold under the Frito-Lay name are now recorded by two PepsiCo divisions: Frito-Lay North America (North American sales) and PepsiCo International (international sales).

The Frito Company
Originally, Frito Lay started in Mexico, after buying Sabritas. Charles Elmer Doolin, manager of the Highland Park Confectionery in San Antonio, purchased a corn chip recipe, a handheld potato ricer and 19 retail accounts from a corn chip manufacturer in 1932 for $100, which he borrowed from his mother. Doolin established a new corn chip business, The Frito Company, in his mother's kitchen. Doolin, his mother and brother produced the corn chips, named Fritos, and had a production capacity of approximately 10 pounds per day. Doolin distributed the Fritos in 5¢ bags. Daily sales totaled $8 to $10 and profits averaged about $2 per day.

In 1933, the production of Fritos increased from 10 pounds to nearly 100 pounds due to the development of a "hammer" press. By the end of the year, production lines were operating in Houston and Dallas. The Frito Company headquarters also moved to Dallas to capitalize on the city's central location and better availability of raw materials. In 1937, The Frito Company opened its Research and Development lab and introduced new products including Fritos Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Fritos Peanuts to supplement Fritos and Fritatos Potato Chips, which had been introduced in 1935.

In 1941, the company opened its Western Division in Los Angeles with two sales routes, which would become the prototype for The Frito Company's distribution system. In 1945, The Frito Sales Company was established to separate sales from production activities and meet the demands of an expanding population. Expansion by the Frito National Company continued with the issue of six franchises in 1945. In 1950, Fritos were sold in all 48 states.

The Frito Company issued its first public stock offering in 1954. At the time of Doolin's death in 1959, The Frito Company produced over forty products, had plants in eighteen cities, employed over 3,000 people and had sales in 1958 in excess of $50 million. By 1962, Fritos would be sold in 48 countries.

H.W. Lay & Company
The invention of the potato chip is often credited to George Crum in the late 1800s. In the 1920s salesman Herman Lay sold the chips in the Southern U.S out of his car. In 1932 Lay began a potato chip business in Nashville, Tennessee. Lay was hired as a salesman for the Barrett Food Products Company, an Atlanta, Georgia manufacturer of Gardner's Potato Chips and eventually took over Barrett's Nashville warehouse as a distributor. Lay hired his first salesman in 1934 and, three years later had 25 employees and a larger manufacturing facility where he produced popcorn and peanut butter sandwich crackers.

A representative of the Barrett Food Company contacted Lay in 1938, offering to sell Barrett's plants in Atlanta and Memphis for $60,000. Lay borrowed $30,000 from a bank and persuaded the Barrett Company to take the difference in preferred stock. Lay moved his headquarters to Atlanta and formed H.W. Lay & Company in 1939. Lay later purchased the Barrett manufacturing plant in Jacksonville, Florida, and additional plants in Jackson, Mississippi, Louisville, Kentucky and Greensboro, North Carolina. Lay retained the Gardner trademark of Barrett Food Products until 1944, when the product name was changed to Lay's Potato Chips.

Lay expanded further in the 1950s with the purchase of The Richmond Potato Chip Company and the Capitol Frito Corporation. By 1956, with more than 1,000 employees, plants in eight cities and branches or warehouses in thirteen others, H.W. Lay & Company was the largest manufacturer of potato chips and snack foods in the United States.

Frito-Lay, Inc. and PepsiCo, Inc.
In 1945, the Frito Company granted the H.W. Lay & Company an exclusive franchise to manufacture and distribute Fritos in the Southeast. The two companies worked toward national distribution and developed a close business affiliation. In September 1961, The Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company merged to become Frito-Lay, Inc.

In February 1965, the Board of Directors for Frito-lay, Inc. and Pepsi-Cola announced a plan for the merger of the two companies. On June 8, 1965, the merger of Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola Company was approved by shareholders of both companies, and a new company called PepsiCo, Inc. was formed. At the time of the merger, Frito-Lay owned 46 manufacturing plants nationwide and had more than 150 distribution centers across the United States.

Today, PepsiCo is organized into four divisions: Frito-Lay North America, PepsiCo Beverages North America, PepsiCo International and Quaker Foods North America. Although products sold in the United States under the Frito-Lay brand name are also sold internationally, international sales are reported by the PepsiCo International division.

United States

 * Beloit, Wisconsin - Full service manufacturing and distribution center primarily serving the Chicago and Twin Cities areas
 * Casa Grande, Arizona - produces Fritos corn chips, Lay's and Ruffles potato chips, Doritos, Tostitos, Cheetos and SunChips.
 * Charlotte, North Carolina - Makes Lays, Dorito's, Frito's, SunChips, among others.
 * Fayetteville, TN
 * Frankfort, Indiana - East and Core plants (two)
 * Irving, Texas - DBS and Core. Dallas Baked Snacks (DBS) makes Baked! Doritos, Baked! Cheetos and Rold Gold Pretzels
 * Jonesboro, Arkansas - Currently undergoing a large expansion (will be the biggest plant in North America when complete)
 * Killingly, Connecticut - Responsible for all overseas shipping from the east coast
 * Kirkwood, New York (Binghamton, New York) - Serves the Northeastern United States and Southern Ontario, Canada
 * Lubbock, Texas
 * Lynchburg, Virginia - North America's sole provider of Light and other "Better for You" snacks.
 * Kern, California (Bakersfield, California) - Third largest plant in North America, Kern manufactures Lays, Fritos, Doritos, Tostitos Scoops, Baked Lays, and Rold Gold Pretzels. Distributes to most of the West Coast, including Hawaii and Canada
 * Rancho Cucamonga, California
 * Modesto, California - Responsible for overseas shipping to military bases, Hawaii operations, and manufactures SunChips products for the West Coast.
 * Orlando, Florida
 * Perry, Georgia - Two plants (Core and Bakery)
 * Pulaski, Tennessee - Responsible for all cracker and cookie products
 * Topeka, Kansas - Logistics & Dispatch
 * Vancouver, Washington - Manufactures and distributes for most of the Northwest region, western Canada and sole provider to Alaska
 * West Valley City, Utah
 * Williamsport, Pennsylvania - One of only five US plants to produce Funyuns
 * Wooster, Ohio - Primarily makes Rold Gold Pretzels (also Herr's, Fritos and Doritos produced)
 * Barceloneta, Puerto Rico- PepsiCo Division Snack

Canada

 * Kentville, Nova Scotia
 * Lévis, Quebec
 * Pointe-Claire, Quebec- Closed in November, 2008
 * Cambridge, Ontario
 * Taber, Alberta: - Potato chips only (Ruffles, Lays, Wavy, Miss Vickies, etc.)
 * Lethbridge, Alberta: - Corn chips only (Doritos, Tostitos, Cheetoes, Sunchips, etc.)

Indonesia

 * Jakarta, Indonesia
 * Surabaya, Indonesia

Products
Frito-Lay's product line includes such brands as:


 * Fritos corn chips
 * Doritos flavored tortilla chips
 * Cheetos cheese puffs
 * Tostitos tortilla chips
 * Ruffles potato chips
 * Lay's (including Baked! Lays, and Lay's Stax)
 * Funyuns onion ring Introducing Hot Funyuns chips
 * Rold Gold pretzels
 * Handles (Smartfood)
 * Baken-Ets pork rinds
 * Munchos
 * Sun Chips
 * Munchies
 * Cracker Jack snack mix
 * Grandma's Cookies
 * Matador Jack Links meat snacks
 * Sabritones puffed wheat snacks
 * Miss Vickies
 * Santitas tortilla chips
 * Chester's Popcorn
 * El Isleño plantain chips
 * Gamesa cookies
 * Maui Chip Skins
 * O'Keely's potato skins
 * Rustler's meat sticks
 * Stacy's pita chips
 * Flat Earth Fruit and Veggie Crisps
 * Smartfood Cheddar Popcorn

as well as several varieties of salsas, dips, crackers, nuts, and seeds.

Foreign subsidiaries

 * The Smith's Snackfood Company (Australia)
 * Tenny (Indonesia)
 * Walkers (United Kingdom)
 * Elma Chips (Brazil)
 * Sabritas (Mexico)
 * Jetz (Indonesia)
 * Matutano (Spain, Portugal)
 * Chiki (Indonesia)

Frito Bandito
In 1967, the company introduced a cartoon spokesman, the Frito Bandito, which was criticized as a Mexican stereotype. The Frito Bandito (voiced by Mel Blanc) wore a sombrero and bandoliers, had a handlebar moustache and brandished pistols. Protests from advocacy groups such as The National Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee (NMAADC) prompted some initial concessions, such as the removal of the pistols and a thinning of the accent. In January 1971, however, the NMAADC, in conjunction with other advocacy groups, launched a $610 million lawsuit ($100 for each American of Mexican descent) for "malicious defamation" of their ethnicity. The Frito Bandito was replaced that year by The Muncha Bunch, and then again by a new cartoon called W.C. Fritos (based on W.C. Fields).

Use of genetically engineered crops
Frito-Lay was named as one of the "Frankenfoods 15" in a campaign boycotting genetically engineered corn organized by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA). In late 1999, Frito-Lay asked its suppliers not to use genetically engineered corn. A similar announcement followed in early 2000, when the company asked its farmers not to grow genetically modified potatoes. Frito-Lay stated these requests were made in response to consumers' worries, and not in response to protests by the OCA, Greenpeace or other groups. Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists applauded the decision, but The American Farm Bureau Federation accused Frito-Lay of "caving in" to anti-biotech activists.

Pork Enzymes
Some Frito-Lay brand seasoned products contain pork enzymes, in addition to herbs, cheese and other seasonings. Frito-Lay's website states that they use enzymes from pigs (porcine enzymes) in some of their seasoned snack chip products to develop 'unique flavors'. The presence of pig-derived ingredients makes them unsuitable for vegans and vegetarians, haraam (forbidden) for Muslims to eat, and non-kosher (forbidden for consumption by Jews).