History of Cheetos

During the 1940s, the Frito Company began experimenting with extruded snacks. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos and in 1948 they released Cheetos, which were cheese flavored.

Made from corn, one might consider the Cheetos a distant cousin to the tortilla. Doolin believed in having Fritos and Cheetos as a side dish with a sandwich or a soup.

Cheetos were marketed by Herman Lay. Doolin died in 1959, and two years later his company merged with Lay’s, creating Frito-Lay, inc., with headquarters in Dallas.

By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Cheetos dominated the puffed snack market with sales twice as much as all the other top fifteen sales combined.

In 1988 Frito-Lay introduced Cheetos Cheddar Cheese Flavored Popcorn and launched a major promotion campaign starring Chester Cheetah, a cartoon character targeted at children and young adults.
History of Cheetos