In 1932 Lay was hired by Barrel Foods an Atlanta snack food firm, and began selling peanut butter sandwiches in southern Kentucky and Tennessee. His job is to sell and make deliveries for the company by his model A Ford touring car.
Lay was an aggressive business and began acquiring distributorships. As his territories expanded, his profits arise. When Barrett’s founder died in 1937, Lay bought the company, which included plants in Atlanta and Memphis, Tennessee.
Lay began manufacturing potato chips in 1938. He changed the company name onto H. W Lay Co. Inc on October 2, 1939.
During the World Way II, the sale of potato chips increased in part because of the lack of competitive snack foods that contained sugar and chocolate due to rationing.
By end of the World War II, Lay’s had become a major regional produce of snack food. After the war Lay automated his potato chip manufacturing business and diversified its products.
Popcorn, manufactured in Nashville, Tennessee, was the first product to have the ‘Lay’s’ brand name. Lay also manufactured potato chips.
In 1961 Frito-Lay Incorporated was formed by the merger of Frito Company and the H. W Lay and Company. In 1966 the company released Doritos, which became popular nationwide.
In 1965 PepsiCo, Incorporated, was formed through a merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company and Frito Lay, Incorporated.
H. W Lay & Company
