Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay is the biggest name in snacks. Period. And the snack giant’s track record of innovation continues today, with an agenda that includes bold flavors and a better-for-you mindset. For the full story, see “Innovation yesterday and today at Frito-Lay.”
Frito-Lay, based in Plano, TX, is the largest international snack company in the world with multiple billion-dollar brands in its lineup. The options at Frito-Lay span 30 brands that account for total annual sales of $15 billion. In the $22.6 billion salty snacks category, Frito-Lay brands dominate, owning the No. 1 slot in: potato chips (Lay’s, $2.2 billion in sales), tortilla chips (Doritos, $2.1 billion in sales), cheese snacks (Cheetos, $1.6 billion in sales), corn snacks (Fritos, $508.2 million in sales) and ready-to-eat popcorn (Smartfood, $349.1 million in sales); data source: IRI, Chicago, 52 weeks ending April 16, 2017.
Back in the early 1930s, when Charles Elmer Doolin started The Frito Company and Herman Lay started H.W. Lay & Company, they were establishing the groundwork for a snack empire. The two companies merged in 1961, and four years later joined forces with The Pepsi-Cola Company to create PepsiCo, which operates Frito-Lay as a subsidiary. This move brought Frito-Lay’s snack brands to a global audience.
Stephen Kalil, CEC, CRC, corporate executive research chef, was the first chef hired by PepsiCo: “I joined Frito-Lay in 2007 with the mission of bringing culinary capabilities internally to the organization. We opened our Frito-Lay Culinary Innovation Center in 2010, and since then it has become a hub of activity for product discovery and development, with chefs and product developers working side-by-side.” The discipline of Culinology, a term coined by the Research Chefs Association blending culinary arts and food science, is instrumental to the process.
In recent years, Frito-Lay has started offering better-for-you, clean-label snacks via its Simply lines, including Simply Cheetos Puffs made with white Cheddar, Simply Lay’s, Simply Organic Doritos and Simply Organic Tostitos Blue Corn tortilla chips.
Frito-Lay has done some considerable work to understand the core consumers of its brands. “They commissioned this huge study to try and understand which consumers were buying our brands and why,” says Jody Denton, CRC, executive research chef. The bold Doritos Dinamita rolled tortilla chips are based on Doritos tortilla chips, only rolled into a unique shape to deliver extra crunch and flavor with a kick.
In 2009, Taco Bell reached out to Frito-Lay to figure out how to incorporate a top Frito-Lay product into one of its menu items. After settling on the idea of seasoning the crispy taco shell, they tested it with consumers. “That idea scored higher than any idea they’ve ever shown to consumers,” says Jody Denton, CRC, executive research chef. After a significant amount of R&D, Frito-Lay and Taco Bell launched the first Doritos Locos taco shell in 2012. “They sold a million the first day. They've sold over 3 billion to date. It’s the most-successful product launch in fast-food history.”
Every year, Frito-Lay reaches out to its audience with the “Do Us a Flavor” contest, soliciting flavor ideas for its snacks and opening the voting to the public. Semi-finalists are awarded $10,000 each, two runner-up finalists get $50,000 each, and the winner brings home $1 million in prize money.
The culinary innovation team is often the start of new product R&D. “When we have an idea, even though we don’t know how to manufacture it yet, we can make it in the kitchen, and we can come up with an initial culinary execution of the idea,” says Jody Denton, CRC, executive research chef. Then the team pitches the idea to Frito-Lay leadership. “When they can see it and taste it, even though it’s a culinary prototype and is going to change a bit when it is going to scale-up, they can get pretty excited about it.”
“At Frito-Lay, we want to deliver against our promise of ‘Performance with Purpose,’” says Stephen Kalil, CEC, CRC, corporate executive research chef. “In doing so, we’re endeavoring to make our products better for you by integrating vegetables, pulses, legumes and whole grains in the right combinations against the right snack forms to deliver products that not only delight you, but are delivering certain nutritional attributes perhaps not seen before in snack foods.”
“There’s something different about research chefs,” says Jody Denton, CRC, executive research chef. “Chefs—especially the sous chef or executive chef—are required to be creative on a daily basis. They need to come up with specials for the menu. They exercise that part of their brain—on-demand quick creativity. It’s a unique type of creativity.”