Hello! I’m Kristin Holmes from the Frito-Lay Public Affairs team, back today on Snack Chat to tell you about a great event I helped host at our manufacturing plant in Beloit, Wis., last Friday. We invited a group of bloggers and Chicago-based Registered Dietitians (RD) to join us for a Frito-Lay plant tour – an inside peek into the work we’re doing to support healthier snacking and environmental sustainability. (At left: Tour guests and the site's financial planning manager, Dan, in front of the Lay’s potato chips line.)
Most of our plant tour guests were also attending the second-annual Healthy Living Summit in Chicago, a gathering of healthy lifestyle bloggers who come together to share knowledge, tips and tools to support a healthy body, mind and soul. Since we share a common interest in health and wellness, we thought it was fitting to invite the summit attendees to see for themselves how we make the best snacks on earth.
After a bus trip from Chicago to Beloit, Bob Hobson, Beloit’s manufacturing manager (pictured right),
kicked off the day with an overview presentation about the facility. Bob shared the history and some fun facts about the site, highlighted their sustainability progress (recently awarded LEED Gold certification!) and educated guests on how we use simple, farm-grown ingredients, like potatoes and corn, to make some of your favorite snacks – Lay’s potato chips, Tostitos tortilla chips and Fritos corn chips. Bob even held up a potato that was harvested from the ground at a nearby farm around 3 a.m. that morning. The other potatoes delivered with it were made into fresh, delicious Lay’s potato chips by 10 a.m. the same day. I think everyone was a bit “wowed” by that fact!
Next, the group split up and half of the guests went on a tour of the manufacturing and packaging floor while the other half ate lunch and learned a bit more about Frito-Lay’s commitment to healthier snacking. Then, the groups swapped, so each guest was able to see the full Frito-Lay story come to life -- how chips are made, the technologies in place to support recycling and conservation in our plants, and strides we’re making with our health and wellness initiatives.
On the plant floor, “seeing is believing,” and what resonated most was seeing our products are made with real ingredients – potatoes and corn – and go through minimal processing to become chips. On the Lay’s line, guests saw the raw potatoes meet their destiny. They were washed, peeled, then washed and peeled again. Then, the potatoes were sliced, fried and seasoned with a bit of salt. Finally, the finished product made its way to the packaging station for weighing and bagging. (Above: Three of our guests and the site's potato chip line manager, Amy, talking about how Lay’s are made.)
When we shared our healthier snacking story, I think guests were surprised to learn Frito-Lay has a history of healthy and wellness: Launching our first “Light” chips in 1989; bringing SunChips to life in 1991; offering our Baked! line in 1997; removing trans fat from all our chips in 2003; and most recently, increasing the amount of whole grains and fiber in most of our Tostitos snacks and expanding Lightly Salted varieties to include Lay’s, Ruffles, Fritos and Rold Gold this year. (Download Frito-Lays_Commitment_to_Health & Wellness.)
From the check-in process to our final goodbyes, every member of the Beloit team really demonstrated their logistical, technical and manufacturing expertise, making our guests feel welcome and teaching them more than they probably ever thought they’d know about making chips! We’re proud to showcase the great work and great people we have at Frito-Lay and thank all of the healthy living bloggers and RDs for joining our tour! Happy (fresh, simple) snacking! (Below: Group picture from our bus ride back to Chicago.)
View the complete Beloit plant tour photo gallery on Flickr.
- Kristin
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