Frito Lay

Snack manufacturer Frito-Lay is chomping down on fat in a big way, investing $225 million to expand its line of low-fat and no-fat items, such as Rold Gold Fat-Free Pretzels, Ruffles Reduced-Fat Potato Chips and Baked Tostitos tortilla chips. The investment will mean three new plants and additional snack production lines at 15 Frito-Lay plants.Frito-Lay, a division of Pepsico Inc., is betting that aging baby boomers obsessed with cutting out fat will increasingly be demanding low-fat and nonfat snacks.

President Barack Obama's appointees have promised to crack down on monopolies and other instances where weak competition lets businesses abuse consumers. About time. The administration of President George W. Bush is widely perceived as the wimpiest antitrust regulator in decades, allowing anti-competitive mergers in mobile phone service, washing machines, cruise lines and more. Search engine gorilla Google is No. 1 on the Obama people's list. Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which want to merge and turn their chokehold on live entertainment into a triple-reverse full Nelson, are right behind.

Duane Michael Hicks, a Frito-Lay route salesman for 10 years, died Sunday of cancer at his Glen Burnie home. He was 44.The Baltimore native spent three years in the Army from 1968 to 1971.Services will be held at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery Chapel in Crownsville.He is survived by his wife of eight years, Linda C. Hicks of Glen Burnie; three daughters, Heather Nicole Hicks and Lindsey Ryan Hicks, both of Ocean City, and Heather Joan Nims of Glen Burnie; two brothers, Jerry W. Hicks of Baltimore and Craig E. Hicks of Pasadena; and his mother, Emma L. Hicks of Maryville, Tenn.

P resident Barack Obama's appointees have promised to crack down on monopolies and other instances where weak competition lets businesses abuse consumers. About time. The administration of President George W. Bush is widely perceived as the wimpiest antitrust regulator in decades, allowing anti-competitive mergers in mobile phone service, washing machines, cruise lines and more. Search engine gorilla Google is No. 1 on the Obama people's list. Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which want to merge and turn their chokehold on live entertainment into a triple-reverse full Nelson, are right behind.

DALLAS -- Halfway through another year of double-digit sales growth, Frito-Lay Inc. already is making plans for a slate of new snack products including the possibility of an entirely new brand line that it hopes will generate similar gains in 1996."

Maryland will lose as many as 650 potential jobs in Harford County because the General Assembly refused to repeal the snack tax, an irritated Frito Lay executive said yesterday.The company plans to expand plants in Georgia and Louisiana instead of Harford County because they are "extraordinarily disappointed" the General Assembly has failed to repeal the snack tax, said Robbi Dietrich, director of consumer and government affairs for Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of Pepsico Inc.The announcement left Harford officials, who were hoping Frito-Lay's Rold Gold pretzel plant in Aberdeen would be expanded by 650 workers, questioning Maryland Gov. Parris N. Glendening's and some legislators' commitment to business.

Frito-Lay Inc. will move into its 235,000-square-foot, $20 million warehouse and distribution center in September, a year after its completion, a company official says.Robbi Dietrich, director of government affairs for the Texas-based snack food company, said about 50 workers will be transferred from other company locations when the center opens.About half of the Frito-Lay building, near U.S. 40 and Route 715, will be occupied in September, and the remainder is to open later as a manufacturing operation, but no date has been set, Ms. Dietrich said.

Supermodels, a Rose Bowl ad blitz and the allure of guilt-free munching have made Frito-Lay baked snacks so popular that the company is scrambling to increase production from Texas to Maryland.Frito-Lay recently added more than 100 jobs at its Aberdeen plant -- to the 215 it already had there -- to run a new Baked Lay's potato chip line. Now it's installing equipment to make Baked Tostitos tortilla chips and intends to hire more workers, sources said yesterday.Together, the Lay's and Tostitos lines are adding 190 jobs and give the plant total employment of 405, sources said.

Frito-Lay Inc., the nation's leading manufacturer and marketer of snack foods, announced Thursday that it will begin production of Rold Gold brand pretzels at its plant in Aberdeen early next year.The announcement was made simultaneously with the long-awaited opening of the 250,000-square-foot Frito-Lay warehouse-distribution center, which has been vacant since it was completed last year.The two projects are expected to create about 125 jobs.The $20 million warehouse center is located at U.S. 40 and Route 715."

After two years of fending off rival snack food companies with price cuts, coupons and costly promotions, Frito-Lay Inc. announced big changes yesterday to lower its cost of doing business.The battles between market leader Frito-Lay, No. 2 Borden Inc. and third-place Eagle Snacks Inc. have lowered the profits of all the major makers of potato and corn chips, pretzels and other salty snacks. But the competition has been a boon to consumers, who have become less tolerant of price increases.

While most other big cities put national potato chip retailer Lay's at the top of their favorite list, Baltimoreans remain loyal to their regional brand. Utz leads locally with $28 million in supermarket sales in the Baltimore-Washington area, leaving Lay's in second place with $11 million, according to a Chicago company that studies food trends. Utz, produced in Hanover, Pa., is among such local favorites as Esskay bacon and Berger Cookies. And in this region, the chip has long been able to outsell Lay's potato chips, the national brand of behemoth Frito-Lay Inc. Lay's has successfully dominated the chip market in other cities throughout the country.

At the urging of the Harford County delegation, the House Ways and Means Committee has eliminated a 5 percent snack tax from its proposed budget bill. The tax, which would have generated an estimated $16 million a year in revenue, was a major concern of Harford officials, including County Executive James M. Harkins, who said it represented a major threat to a possible expansion of the Frito-Lay Inc. plant in Aberdeen. With 418 workers, Frito-Lay is Harford County's largest manufacturing employer.

Harford County delegates to the General Assembly are rallying their forces to block passage of a proposed 5 percent sales tax on snack foods that county officials say would threaten the future expansion of the Frito-Lay Inc. plant in Aberdeen. With 418 workers, Frito-Lay is the county's largest manufacturing employer and a major contributor to the county's fast-growing economic base. Lynn Markley, a spokeswoman for Frito-Lay, which is based in Plano, Texas, said the company is not speculating on its plans but added, "A snack-food tax would certainly hinder any type of expansion" in Maryland.

Harford County delegates to the General Assembly are rallying their forces to block passage of a proposed 5 percent sales tax on snack foods that county officials say would threaten the future expansion of the Frito-Lay Inc. plant in Aberdeen. With 418 workers, Frito-Lay is the county's largest manufacturing employer and a major contributor to the county's fast-growing economic base. Lynn Markley, a spokeswoman for Frito-Lay, which is based in Plano, Texas, said the company is not speculating on its plans but added, "A snack-food tax would certainly hinder any type of expansion" in Maryland.

The latest battle in the Great Cola Wars is being fought over chips -- specifically the ability of Utz Quality Foods Inc. to sell and market snacks at the University of Maryland, College Park.Hanover, Pa.,-based Utz is challenging a Dec. 17 university contract giving PepsiCo Inc. and its subsidiary, Frito-Lay, nearly exclusive 15-year "pouring rights" to sell beverages and snacks in campus convenience stores, dining halls and vending machines. Utz has also filed a lawsuit in Prince George's County Circuit Court charging the university with interfering with its advertisements by removing Utz signs from campus sports arenas.

Supermodels, a Rose Bowl ad blitz and the allure of guilt-free munching have made Frito-Lay baked snacks so popular that the company is scrambling to increase production from Texas to Maryland.Frito-Lay recently added more than 100 jobs at its Aberdeen plant -- to the 215 it already had there -- to run a new Baked Lay's potato chip line. Now it's installing equipment to make Baked Tostitos tortilla chips and intends to hire more workers, sources said yesterday.Together, the Lay's and Tostitos lines are adding 190 jobs and give the plant total employment of 405, sources said.

State legislators should take a careful look at the lame-duck governor's last-minute pitch to repeal the "snack tax", which imposes the 5 percent sales tax on certain snack foods.Gov. William Donald Schaefer proposed the legislation, while touring the Frito-Lay pretzel factory-warehouse in Aberdeen last week, to improve Maryland's bad reputation with business.This abrupt about-face by Mr. Schaefer, after he originally sponsored the snack tax in 1992, was tied to a long-standing complaint by Frito-Lay Inc. that it could quadruple the current workforce level at Aberdeen (to 600 workers)

And now, the newest controversy on the frontier of low-fat food: the battle of the dueling olestra hot lines.A consumer group announced yesterday that it had established a toll-free hot line, 1-888-OLESTRA, to field complaints from customers who say they are suffering ill health from eating products made with olestra, the fat substitute made by Procter & Gamble Co. and marketed under the Olean brand name.But Frito-Lay Inc., the unit of Pepsico Inc. that has been test-marketing Olean-rich chips in three cities, shot back that it had already established its own toll-free hot line: 1-800-483-7486.

And now, the newest controversy on the frontier of low-fat food: the battle of the dueling olestra hot lines.A consumer group announced yesterday that it had established a toll-free hot line, 1-888-OLESTRA, to field complaints from customers who say they are suffering ill health from eating products made with olestra, the fat substitute made by Procter & Gamble Co. and marketed under the Olean brand name.But Frito-Lay Inc., the unit of Pepsico Inc. that has been test-marketing Olean-rich chips in three cities, shot back that it had already established its own toll-free hot line: 1-800-483-7486.