Fritos Brand

Fritos Brand

It all started in 1932, when the colorful bags where yet to hit grocery stores and fill their shelves and the word “snacking” wasn’t common in people’s vocabulary. The invention of Fritos Corn Chips brought an entirely new way of eating. Original Fritos has 3 ingredients which are limited to whole corn, corn oil, and salt; the responsible people to put them into a bag were C.E. Elmer, Earl Doolin and their mother Daisy Dean Doolin.

Charles Elmer Doolin was the manager of the Highland Park Confectionery in San Antonio. Seeing that tortillas wouldn’t stay fresh long enough in his store, he decided to look for an alternative. Elmer Doolin was so taken with the bag of corn chips served with his lunch in San Antonio, Texas that he paid $100 for the recipe. According to legend, Daisy had faith in his son, so she let him pawn her wedding ring to get the money. Doolin established a new corn chip business, The Frito Company, in his mother's kitchen.

The family worked together. Daisy’s kitchen was the laboratory where Earl and C.E mixed batches of corn dough and shaped strips using a converted potato ricer. C.E was a perfectionist, so he investigated different types of corn to meet most stringent standards. He discovered a variety of corn that pleased him after planting varieties all over Texas. Corn was C.E Doolin secret ingredient, according to his daughter Kaleta Doolin.

Daisy experimented at dinner time making different dishes by adding corn chips to her meals and writing down the recipes. By giving way to her forays, she accidentally discovered The Fritos chili pies, when she sprinkled Fritos over some chili. People have been creating their own Frito recipes, by adding Fritos to all kinds of dishes ever since.

The Fritos where distributed in 5¢ bags. Fritos daily sales totaled $8 to $10 with profits of $2 a day. In 1933 thanks to the development of a “hammer” press the production of Fritos increased from 10 to 100 lbs. At the end of 1933, production lines were operating in Dallas and Houston.

To capitalize on the city’s central location and for better availability of raw materials, the Frito Company head quarters moved to Dallas. The Frito Company opened its Research and Development lab and introduced new products such as: Fritos Peanuts and Fritos Peanut Sandwiches in 1937 as a supplement to Fritos and Fritatos Potato Chips which had been introduced in 1935.

The Frito Western Division was opened in Los Angeles with two sales routes, which would become the prototype for The Frito Company’s distribution system in 1941. By 1950, Fritos were sold in all 48 states. In 1954 The Frito Company issued its first public stock offering.

Doolin died in 1959 and The Frito Company produced over forty products, employed over 3,000 people, had plants in eighteen cities and had sales in excess of $50 million by 1958. Fritos would get sold in 48 countries by 1962.

The Frito Company merged with H.W Lay & Company to become Frito-Lay, Inc. in September 1961 combining their headquarters in Dallas, Texas. The company generated $127 million annual revenues from sales of its four main brands at the time: Fritos, Cheetos, Lays and Ruffles.

Fritos Corn Chips is a snack in a class of its own, that’s why is so popular in small towns, family barbecues, parties in the big city, as a snack at a picnic, this popular snack is a true icon. This delicious and popular hearty chip gave way to the birth of another American classic, the Frito Pie.

Products from Fritos include: Original, Barbecue, Chili Cheese, Flamin’ Hot, McGraw’s Spicy Jalapeno, Tangy Roasted Corn, Sabrositas, Scoops, Hoops, Pinch of Salt, Dirty Mexican Chicken, Ranch Style, Chutney, Lightly Salted, . The sub-brand named Twists comes in three flavors: Tex-Mex, Honey Barbecue and Tapatio.

Other products from Fritos include various Dips: Bean Dip, Hot Bean Dip with Jalapeno Peppers, Cheddar Flavored Cheese Dip, Chili Cheese Dip, Jalapeno Cheddar Cheese and Southwest Enchilada Black Bean Dip.

For more information about Fritos Brand from Frito-Lay please visit their website at Fritos Brand or http://www.fritolay.com

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