50th Anniversary…Still Chipping Away

It was back in 1964 that Doritos brand chips made their debut.  The original product was made at the Casa de Fritos at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Using surplus tortillas, the company-owned restaurant cut them up and fried them (as in traditional Mexican chips called totopos) and added basic seasoning, resembling the Mexican chilaquiles, but in this case being dry.  Arch West was the Vice President of Marketing of Frito-Lay at the time, and noticed their popularity. He made a deal with Alex Foods in 1964, the provider of many items for Casa de Fritos at Disneyland, and produced the chips for a short time regionally, before it was overwhelmed by the volume, and Frito-Lay moved the production in-house to its Tulsa, OK plant.  Today there are too many flavors to mention on store shelves, and even more that bit the dust. (No pun intended)  So the next time you pick up a bag of your favorite flavor, give a big salute for fifty years of crunchiness!