Frito-Lay
Lay's, Baken-Ets, Cheetos, Chester's, Cracker Jack, Doritos, El Isleno, Funyuns, Fritos, Maui Style, Miss Vickie's, Munchies, Munchos, Ruffles, Sabritones, Santitas, Simply, Smartfood, Sunchips, Stacy's, Tostitos Address: PO Box 660634, Dallas, Texas 75266-0634, USA
Phone: 1 800 352 4477
Website: www.fritolay.com, www.cheetos.com, www.doritos.com, www.lays.com, www.ruffles.com, www.simplyfritolay.com, www.tostitos.com
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Lay's Potato Chips

1931: Herman Lay sold Potato Chips in the southern United States out of his car.
1932: Lay began his own Potato Chip company in Nashville, Tennessee.
1934: Lay hired his first salesman
1937: By this time Lay had 25 employees and a much larger manufacturing facility where he produced popcorn and peanut butter sandwich crackers.
1938: Lay purchased his former employer, the Barrett Food Company’s Atlanta and Memphis plants for $60,000. The Barrett Company would hold half the company in preferred stock, Lay borrowed his share from the bank.
1939: The H.W. Lay & Company was formed, although the Chips were still manufactured under the Gardner trademark of Barrett Food Products.
1944: With further Barrett plants purchased, the product name was changed to Lay's Potato Chips.
1945: The company begun a long and close working relationship with The Frito Company by taking on an exclusive partnership to distribute in the South East.
1956: After continued expansion, including the purchase of The Richmond Potato Chip Company and the Capitol Frito Corporation, Lay’s Potato Chips had more than 1,000 employees, plants in 8 cities and branches or warehouses in 13 others. This qualified H.W. Lay & Company to be the largest manufacturer of Potato Chips and snack foods in the United States.
1961: After many years of working closely together, The Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company merged to become Frito-Lay, Inc.
1965: Frito-Lay, Inc., merged with the Pepsi-Cola Company, to become PepsiCo, Inc. The Frito-Lay part of the company began operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo.
1966: Doritos were launched. They would go on to become the company's second best selling product line.
1969: Funyuns were launched.
1971: Munchos were launched.
1978: Frito-Lay's product development team launched Tostitos, a Mexican-style tortilla chip range. Within two years sales of $140 million made it one the most successful product launches in the company’s history.
1989: After a decade of continued product development, company growth, increased product sales, and expansion into new markets sales outside of the US and Canada contributed $500 million to a total sales figure of $3.5 billion.
​1990: PepsiCo, Inc. acquired the UK's biggest Potato Crisps company, Walkers Crisps and Smith Foods from BSN (later Danone) for $1.35 billion.
​1991: Multi-grain snack Sun Chips was introduced, along with a number of other products aimed at a healthier snack marketing strategy.
1994: Frito-Lay recorded annual retail sales of nearly $5 billion.
1998: The international arm of the company continued its acquisitions, mergers and and joint ventures program, including Smith's Snackfood Company (Australia), and Savoy Brands (Latin America). This would continue to today.
2010: Frito-Lay re-worked its Lay's Kettle and Lay's flavored Chips, along with around half the company’s full range of recipes. They were now made with all-natural ingredients.
Lay's Jalapeno Kettle Cooked Potato Chips 
There is a common misconception that kettle cooked chips are worse for you than regular chips. The nutrition label on this bag suggested the opposite - For Lay's Chips at least. It must be difficult for the world's biggest chips company to produce a chip that will appeal to all, while still providing the intended flavour. Especially for what should be a hot and spicy taste. What they did here was create a mild jalapeno, mixed with an oily potato chip, that very few would claim was too hot. They had a warm and rounded, but very mild taste.   
(16)
Lay's Mesquite BBQ Kettle Cooked Potato Chips
Of all the Lay’s barbecue flavoured chips I have tested, these were among the most pleasing. They established a centrepoint from which good, and not so good chips, can be compared. They had a slightly sweet, slightly smoky, slightly barbecue flavouring. They were straight down the middle, no-one could be disappointed, and no-one would be overwhelmed barbecue potato chips.   
(16)
Lay's Original Kettle Cooked Potato Chips 
These tasted of very slightly, salty and oily potato. There is nothing much else to add, except they were moreish, went great with a sandwich, and forced me to peer into the bag when it was finished in the hope some chips were still left. 
(16)​
​Lay's Sea Salt & Vinegar Kettle Cooked 
Okay, these chips hit, and they missed. First off, the level of flavours was pretty feeble. There was vinegar and there was salt. They were however very mild. A majority of US companies are unable to recreate the British standard flavour, preferring to over vinegar the seasoning. Lay's in their; less is more approach, have created a good balance that will not be too far away from Walker's Crisps' popular recipe.   
(17)
Lay's Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper Kettle 
A Nose Plunge Test revealed a mild cheese smell. A closer sniff and an equally mild peppery potato redolence was apparent. It was hard to pinpoint, but there was a very slight cheesy or creamy background taste to what were essentially pepper coated chips. Even the odd chip without any black spots on lacked salt. In a flavour pairing a balance must be struck. These were all mild pepper. It was a pleasing pepper because it did not overwhelm the warm oily potato. If they were just called ‘Pepper,’ they ​would have received higher marks. 
(17)
​Lay's Maui Onion Kettle Cooked Chips 
A Nose Plunge Test revealed an onion type of aroma, but it was not particularly sweet or pleasant. The flavour would possibly be an acquired taste for some, but it was a mild-enough-to-please-all version of it. The sweet onion taste was clear and present, but not in a screw your eyes up wince sort of strength.   
(18)
Lay's 40% Less Fat Original Kettle Chips 
As Lay's have made much the same chip for their 40% less fat version, this is much the same review: Original, plain, ready salted, traditional, are impossible to review for flavour. They tasted of very slightly, salty and oily potato. There is little more to add, except that although these had forty percent less fat, they have forty percent more salt than the kettle-cooked Original. Swings and roundabouts.   
(15)

Withdrawn

​Lay’s Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese Chips
I can’t honestly say what the ‘everything’ was. They tasted like a mild sour cream with a touch of muted pepper and maybe equally muted herbs. They were very enjoyable chips, but you can't use the word 'Everything' and not expect me to say something.  (10)
Lay's 40% Less Fat Sun Dried Tomato & Parmesan
Oddly, there was all manner of cheese powders included in this bag to come up with, presumably, the parmesan flavour. Those food science geeks, eh? And it worked. They managed to make a parmesan flavour out of a weird old combo of ingredients. They didn't quite work on the tomato enough though, because while there was natural sun-dried tomato flavouring, it needed a similar boost to match up with its partner. It was a flavourful chip that was a little skewed to cheesy, but still pleasant.   
(19)