Doritos


Doritos is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay.
In 1966, Doritos became the first tortilla chip available nationally in the United States. The initial flavor was simply toasted corn, followed by taco in 1967, and the now-ubiquitous nacho cheese in 1972. Now, the chips are available worldwide in a wide variety of flavors, differing regionally.
Doritos has also gained notability for its marketing campaigns, including ads aired during Super Bowls. The Doritos brand is also used for similarly seasoned products, like Doritos 3D and taco shells at Taco Bell.

History

The term dorito is a contraction of Spanish doradito, which is a diminutive of dorado.
The original product was made at the Casa de Fritos at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, during the early 1960s. Using surplus tortillas and, the company-owned restaurant cut them into smaller pieces, fried them, and added basic seasoning. Arch West was the vice president of marketing of Frito-Lay at the time, and noticed their popularity. He made a deal in 1964 with Alex Foods, 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 plant.
Doritos were released nationwide in 1966, the first tortilla chip to be launched nationally in the United States.
According to Information Resources International, in 1993, Doritos earned $1.2 billion in retail sales, one-third of the total Frito-Lay sales for the year.
The company was sued in 1993 by Charles Grady, who claimed that his throat had been damaged while eating Doritos. According to his lawsuit, the shape and rigidity of the chips made them inherently dangerous. Grady attempted to admit into evidence a study by a former chemistry professor that calculated how best to safely swallow the chips. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court later ruled that the study did not meet scientific standards and could not be presented as evidence.
In the costliest redesign in Frito-Lay history, in 1994 the company spent $50 million to redesign Doritos. Roger J. Berdusco, the vice president of tortilla chip marketing, said a primary reason for the change was "greater competition from restaurant-style tortilla chips, that are larger and more strongly seasoned". The design change was the result of a two-year market research study that involved 5,000 chip eaters. The new design made the chips 20% larger, 15% thinner, and gave each chip rounded corners, making it easier to eat and reducing the scrap resulting from broken corners. Each chip was also given more seasoning, resulting in a stronger flavor. The redesigned chips were released in four flavors beginning in January 1995.
In the United States, Frito-Lay eliminated trans fat from all Doritos varieties in 2002. The same year, the Doritos brand began complying with the Food and Drug Administration labeling regulations, four years before the regulations became mandatory.
In 2005, sales of Doritos in the United States fell by 1.7% to $595 million. To increase sales in 2006, the company launched several new flavors, a new label, and more bilingual advertising. Frito-Lay vice president Joe Ennen described this as "the most significant rebranding and relaunch in Doritos' 38-year history."
On February 21, 2013, the Doritos logo was changed again, and the advertising slogan "for the bold" was adopted.
In 2015, Doritos introduced a limited edition Rainbow Doritos product, which were only available to those making a minimum donation of $10 to the It Gets Better Project, a non-profit organization that supports LGBT youth. The promotion raised $100,000 for the organization, despite some controversy.

Ingredients

The original plain chips are made of ground corn, vegetable oil, and salt. Other ingredients vary across the flavored chip varieties. Doritos made for the US market generally do not use pork-derived animal rennet in the making of the cheese flavorings used on the chip.
In 1996, The Onion, a satirical newspaper and website, featured an article with the headline "Doritos Celebrates One Millionth Ingredient", lampooning Frito-Lay for the sheer number of ingredients found in Doritos.
Concerns have been raised that the oils, flavorings and additives used in Doritos and other Frito-Lay products may be unhealthy.

Flavors

Doritos are sold in many countries worldwide in assorted flavors. They launched nationally in the United States in 1966, with only one flavor: Toasted Corn. The product proved successful, but additional market research revealed that many consumers outside the Southwest and West considered the chip to be too bland and not spicy enough for what was perceived as a Mexican snack. Frito-Lay therefore developed taco-flavored Doritos, which also became successful after they were introduced nationally in 1967. National distribution of nacho cheese-flavored Doritos began in 1972, and they were also popular. In 1978, Sour Cream and Onion flavored Doritos were introduced, but were discontinued in the early 1980s. A Sesame seed flavored chip was also available for a short time during 1978-79. Around 1985, the original taco flavor recipe was altered to include a sour cream flavoring. In 1986, Cool Ranch Doritos made their debut and also became popular. Cool Ranch Doritos are sold under the name "Cool Original" in the UK and are called "Cool American" elsewhere in Europe, as ranch dressing is less common in those places.
In the 1990s, in partnership with parent company PepsiCo's fast food brands, two new flavors of Doritos were introduced, Taco Bell's Taco Supreme and Pizza Hut's Pizza Cravers. After PepsiCo spun off its restaurant division in 1997, the flavors were simply renamed taco and pizza, respectively, with the pizza flavor discontinued in some markets. At around the same time, due to the popularity of Frito-Lay's Tostitos brand the unflavored Toasted Corn was briefly discontinued, then brought back. In 2008, the Taco Bell flavor was temporarily re-released under the "Back by Popular Demand" label along with Four Cheese.
In 1990, Jumpin' Jack Monterey Cheese flavored Doritos were introduced. This flavor was later discontinued. In 1995, Chester's Cheese Doritos were available for a limited time. This flavor introduced the familiar Cheetos flavor cheese on the typical Doritos tortilla chip. In 1997, Spicy Nacho was introduced.
For a brief period in 2004, Doritos introduced new shape and form called "Rollitos", which were corn chips shaped into small tubes, like a regular triangular Dorito was "rolled" up. Rollitos flavors included Nacho Cheesier, Zesty Taco, Cooler Ranch and Queso Picante. In 2013, this idea was reintroduced and rebranded as "Dinamitas", or little sticks of dynamite. There are two varieties, a chili lime combo, and the Mojo Criollo, a lemon-lime and garlic flavored rolled Doritos. Dinamitas differs slightly in style than Rollitos. Rollitos had the chips baked, the tube formed with an oil-submersible box press to fry. Currently it is rolled into a tube before the baking and frying, a much simpler process.
Six versions of "Doritos Collisions", which include two different flavors in the same bag, have been produced. Those varieties of Doritos Collisions are Hot Wings/Blue Cheese, Zesty Taco/Chipotle Ranch, Habanero/Guacamole, Cheesy Enchilada/Sour Cream, Pizza Cravers/Ranch, and Blaze/Ultimate Cheddar.
In 2007, Doritos ran a campaign called "Doritos X-13D Flavor Experiment" where black, unidentified bags of Doritos were on the market for consumers to identify and name the flavor. The only flavor identification on these chips was "All American Classic".
Reincarnations and relaunches of taco-flavored Doritos, including the 2008 "Back By Popular Demand" campaign, were different from the original taco flavor. The taco chips included in the Zesty Taco and Chipotle Ranch "Collisions" bags were thought by customers to be closer to the original, but were later discontinued in most of the United States. In late 2010, the modified taco flavor recipe introduced in the mid 1980s returned in a limited edition "retro" styled bag incorporating the original Doritos logo, and in early 2011, Frito-Lay announced that this incarnation would remain in the permanent product line-up.
In 2008, Doritos debuted a "mystery flavor" Quests with prizes being given as puzzles were solved. The mystery flavor was Mountain Dew. In 2009, Doritos released some new flavors under the banner "Doritos Late Night": "Tacos at Midnight" and "Last Call Jalapeño Popper". They also modified the X-13D Flavor as All Nighter Cheeseburger.
2010 saw the release of three successively spicy "Degree Burn" flavors, cross promoted to "cool down" with Pepsi's lime "Cease Fire/Max Citrus Freeze", and the wasabi-flavored Mr. Dragon's Fire Chips. 2010 saw the introduction of Doritos to New Zealand and with it flavors including Nacho Cheese, Cheese Supreme, Salted, and Salsa.
In the spring of 2011, a Tapatio hot sauce flavor was released. In February 2011, Doritos Canada ran a competition to write the end of a commercial for two new flavors, and to vote for which of the two flavors would be taken off shelves when the contest ended. Onion Rings n' Ketchup received the most votes and remained on sale.
In the spring of 2015, Doritos Roulette was released to US markets for a limited time. It later returned to store shelves on April 12, 2021. While all chips appeared to look the same on the outside, one out of every six chips would be extra spicy. Owing to the spicy nature of one variety contained in the pack, in July 2015, George Pindar School reported an incident where an asthmatic student "suffered some difficulty breathing after eating one".
On October 6, 2022, Doritos launched two new flavors in the UK inspired by the nation's favorite pizzas, Triple Cheese Pizza and Loaded Pepperoni Pizza flavors were launched and added to the range.