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Happy 50th anniversary, Frito-Lay -- PEPline looks back at FLNA's history

Thursday, September 29, 2011

This story ran in PEPline, PepsiCo’s global employee newsletter, and is proudly brought to you by a PepsiCo employee or a friend or family member of a PepsiCo employee.

This week marks 50 years since the Frito Co., founded by C.E. Doolin, and the H.W. Lay & Co., founded by Herman Lay, merged to form Frito-Lay, Inc. To commemorate this important milestone, here’s a look back at Frito-Lay North America’s (FLNA) history:

Frito-Lay co-founders Elmer Doolin (L) and Herman Lay (R) transformed a small, fragmented part of the food business into the large and flourishing snack industry, offering exceptional service, innovation, leadership and quality that continue at Frito-Lay today.

The story of Frito-Lay began in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, when two young entrepreneurs, each unaware of each other, set out on similar paths in different parts of the U.S. That year, C.E. Doolin founded the Frito Co. in San Antonio, when, with $100 he borrowed, he bought the recipe for corn chips and a converted potato ricer from a businessman. Meanwhile, Herman Lay began his business when, also with $100 he borrowed, he bought in Nashville a one-man branch of a potato chip company. In 1939, he bought out the manufacturer to form H.W. Lay & Co.

In 1945, the men’s paths crossed and they began a close business relationship. Dallas-based Frito Co. began selling Lay’s potato chips in the Southwest, and Atlanta-based Lay Co. sold Fritos in the Southeast.

In 1961, the Frito Co. and the H.W. Lay & Co. merged to form Frito-Lay, Inc, with the goal of creating a national reach for their snacks. Frito-Lay quickly became a growth leader, with strong sales and profits, new plants and more customers. Frito-Lay also became a pioneer in new kinds of packaging, advertising and manufacturing.

Then, in 1965, Frito-Lay merged with the Pepsi-Cola Co. to form PepsiCo. Fifty years after the merger of two snack companies that started as one-man operations, FLNA is the industry’s snack leader, with $13 billion in annual sales, a strong record of growth and 50,000 FLNA associates.