👨🍳 The Invention of Fritos
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Good morning tortilla!
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We have an epidemic among us.
You’re at your bffs Super Bowl party.
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You’re hangin’ but you need to get some nervous energy out. Socializing is hard.
So you lock eyes with the Fritos and guac across the room.
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You scurry over.
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Another conversation starts while you dive in for a BIG dip of avocado goodness.
But you lose your focus and this tragedy unfolds:
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What? You’re not gonna stick your finger in there and fish it out…are you?
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Oh my god no, you did.
That’s embarrassing.
It’s a problem as old as the Frito itself – The United States’ oldest corn chip.
So how’d we get into this mess?
Well, it was the 1930s and this dude Charles Doolin was working at a confectionery:
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Oops! Great Depression. He doesn’t work there anymore.
So he’s walking down the street.
Kickin’ rocks.
When he sees this street vendor:
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I can only imagine what it would be like to taste masa flour smashed into a tortilla chip, deep fried in corn oil, and coated in salt for the first time.
Probably ~bliss~.
The only problem was, this street vendor – Gustavo – was super over his business.
He just wanted to go back to Mexico to coach soccer.
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So he does.
But first he puts his tortilla chip company up for sale.
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Charles wants to buy the $100 stand (~$2,000 today) — but he’s broke.
So he has to get his mom to pawn her wedding ring.
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Her ring was only worth $80.
Which was, well, 80% of what he needed to buy Gustavo’s tortilla business.
But remember: Gustavo wanted OUT for his Mexican dream.
So he takes the $80 knowing Charles would be good for the other $20.
Now Charles owns a small corn tortilla chip stand and he rebrands the chips as ‘Fritos’ – meaning ‘fried’ in spanish.
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And the rest, as they say, is history…
2 BILLION bags of Fritos sold every year history…
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Stay Cute,
Henry & Dylan 🌈
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