Corn chips, which are derived from corn masa like that used in tortillas, were originally developed by Gustavo Olguin.
Doolin set up a production facility in his mom’s kitchen and sold the chips out of the back of his model T.
He was successful in selling them and he quickly opened a factory in San Antonio, Texas. In 1933, the fritos production was increased by designing a ‘hammer’ pres and the company continued to expand.
Within a year Doolin moved to Dallas where his company has remained ever since, because it was a better distribution center and he quickly became the snack food lord of the Southwest.
Frito adding potato chips to its line-up by buying out existing firms, including Crispie of Stockton, California, Nicolay-Dancey of Detroit and the Noss family’s Num Num of Cleveland.
In 1945, The Frito Sales Company was established, which separated sales from production activities. Expansion by the Frito National Company continued with issues of six franchises in 1945.
In 1961 the Frito Company merged with the Lay Company maker of Lay’s potato chips to become the giant Frito-Lay, which dominates the $14 billion snack food market. In 1965, Pepsi-Cola merged with Frito-Lay to form PepsiCo.
The Frito Company
