Snack Chat

Making Family Memories This Memorial Day

This weekend, my wife, Janis, and our four grown children, their spouses and our five grandsons are gathering at our family lake house.  (Our family picture from last year is below).  As many people spend Memorial Day remembering their loved ones who fought for our country, Janis and I want to make sure we create memories that our loved ones will remember and talk about for the rest of their lives.  

To create these memories, we have some good family time planned -- fishing, horseback riding, water skiing and, of course, eating!  Janis is planning the menus and tapping into some of the recipes that our kids love from the Philips Family Cookbook.  Our daughter, Kristen, compiled the cookbook for us, and in its introduction, she wrote:

"Food always seems to bring us together, whether it is for casual family dinners, special holiday feasts or just catching up on each other's busy lives while standing around nibbling in the kitchen.  Everyone has favorite recipes from throughout their lives and many of these have been passed down through the generations.  Sometimes all it takes is a certain smell to trigger a memory and this book is full of them."

I thought it would be fun to share a basic multilayer dip recipe from the Philips Family Cookbook that is perfect for Memorial Day family gatherings. It’s easy to prepare, goes great with Baked! Tostitos Scoops and has always been a favorite of our kids.

Baked! Tostitos Scoops & Multilayer Tex-Mex Dip

Ingredients:

• 3 medium avocados

• 2 T lemon juice

• Pinch of salt and pepper

• 8 oz sour cream

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 1 package taco mix

• 2 (10-oz) cans Fritos Bean Dip

• 1 cup green onions, chopped

• 2 cans pitted, chopped olives

• 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese

• 3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced

• Baked! Tostitos Scoops

Preparation: 

• Peel, pit and mash avocados; add lemon juice, salt and pepper

• Mix sour cream, mayo and taco mix in bowl

• Spread bean dip on a serving platter

• Spread sour cream on top of bean dip to 1/2 inch from edge

• Spread avocados on top of sour cream to 1/2 inch from edge

• Sprinkle with chopped onions, followed by tomatoes, and then olives

• Cover with shredded cheddar cheese

• Chill and serve with Baked! Tostitos Scoops tortilla chips

Frito-Lay Celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

One of the most enjoyable aspects of blogging on Snack Chat is that I'm always learning something new. This proved especially true this week when I spoke with Vinay Bohara, who works in Frito-Lay/PepsiCo’s information systems division, about his experience leading the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration at Frito-Lay’s headquarters and a PepsiCo office in Plano, Texas, this year. Vinay is leading this effort as part of the PepsiCo Asian Network (PAN), the employee group promoting diversity and inclusion at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo by creating awareness of and education about the Asian-Pacific culture. 

To start, I learned the U.S. Congress designated May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in 1992 to honor the achievements of Asian-Pacific Americans and recognize their contributions to the United States.  I also was surprised (and impressed) to learn this year’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month celebration at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo was bigger and better than ever.  PAN hosted 12 events in Plano, including forums focused on career development, a dragon boat festival, (pictured below), a Chinese music concert, a calligraphy demonstration, a henna festival and an Asian culinary event. To top off the month, PAN welcomed reality-TV star Yau-Man Chan from “Survivor: Fiji” and “Survivor: Micronesia” as the keynote speaker at its event last night.

 

 "An emotional highlight from this year’s celebration happened at the kick-off event,” Vinay told me.  “Carol Gerard from the Frito-Lay Finance team told the audience of employees her childhood story of how she and her parents escaped from Vietnam on a small boat at the end of the Vietnam War to start new lives in the United States.  Today, Carol has a wonderful family and successful career as a Director in Finance at Frito-Lay." 

(I know Carol well from my early days with the Cheesy Riders bike team, and was very glad to hear from Vinay that she’s continuing to do well!)

Vinay also shared with me exciting news PAN recently received: The Asia Society selected PepsiCo as one of the top places for Asian Americans to work. This is quite an accomplishment for PepsiCo and the PAN organization, which has worked hard to educate employees and our communities about the contributions Asian-Pacific Americans made throughout history and at our company. 

While May is the highlight of the year for PAN, the network works hard to support its mission throughout the year -- providing its members with information and tools to build their careers, giving back to the community and helping develop new business by engaging Asian-owned business owners with information and news about PepsiCo products. 

In the past, I blogged about the work other Frito-Lay employee resource groups are doing here at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo -- Mosaic (African-American network), Adelante (Hispanic network), RISE (Native American Network), EnAble (people with different abilities) and WIN (Women's Initiative Network).  Although I wasn’t able to participate in the festivities PAN hosted throughout May, I enjoyed talking with Vinay and learning more about what the network is doing to support our commitment to diversity and inclusion.  I expect PAN will continue to make an impact at PepsiCo. The Asia Society certainly thinks so!

Frito-Lay Encourages Women to "Be Fearless" in the Fight Against Breast Cancer

The young people working in Frito-Lay Marketing continue to prove me wrong -- and I couldn't be happier. 

For most of the 30 years I worked at Frito-Lay, I adhered to the old-school notion that the only role of a business is to make money for its shareholders.  But many of today's young people -- deemed the Millennial generation -- have a different philosophy and are proving that corporate support for social causes can be the right thing to do for consumers, customers, shareholders and employees.  They're teaching baby boomers like me a good lesson.

A great example of this lesson is Frito-Lay’s partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure this year: We’re donating $1 million to fund educational materials for early detection and prevention of breast cancer.  In addition, we're launching an in-store program in which our displays feature pink ribbon packaging on SunChips and Baked! Lay’s, and offer materials encouraging women to "Be Fearless" in the fight against breast cancer.

I've already seen pink ribbon bags of Baked! Lay's in my grocery store, and the back panel of the bag includes the tip: 

"Learn to administer a breast self exam by visiting www.komen.org and Spread the word about early detection to your friends and loved ones."

I’m impressed with these bags and the display designs because they’re helping increase awareness and teaching women the steps to "Be Fearless" in the fight against breast cancer by incorporating lifestyle practices that aid in early detection of the disease.

I spoke with Nicolle Poole, Associate Brand Manager for SunChips and a Millennial, and she explained why the bags and in-store displays are critical to our ability to spread the message about breast cancer prevention: "According to the American Cancer Society, the single most important thing for women to know is that they must get screened regularly for breast cancer because it is the best way to lower their risk of dying from the disease. When breast cancer is found before it spreads beyond the breast, the five-year survival rate in the U.S. is 98 percent -- up from 74 percent in 1982.”

"We also know that loyal SunChips consumers are more inclined to buy products that are associated with causes they believe in.  So it's a win-win -- building our brands and helping fight breast cancer at the same time," Nicolle said.

Nicolle also told me that Frito-Lay’s "Be Fearless" program includes participating in select Race for the Cure events around the country, including the race near our Frito-Lay Headquarters office in Plano, Texas, on June 12th.  Last year, a group of 200 people (employees and their family members) participated with Team Frito-Lay in the Plano race, and they’re hoping for an even greater turnout this year. 

Like many of you, I have seen personally the terrifying impact of breast cancer on friends and family members.  So I'm pleased to see Millennials like Nicolle helping build our company while supporting a great cause like Susan G. Komen for the Cure. 

Back by Popular Demand - Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzels

I’m happy to announce Frito-Lay is bringing back, by very popular demand, Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzels!  As someone who once managed the Rold Gold brand for Frito-Lay, and more importantly, is a big fan of hard sourdough pretzels –- which are larger and crunchier than their bite-sized cousins -- this is great news. 

Shortly after we discontinued Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzels in late 2008, we began hearing from our loyal consumers who missed them. One woman told us:

"I've searched all my stores for these and can't find them anymore. If you've stopped making them, let me know so I can tell my husband and he can begin his mourning process."

It’s no surprise to me that we received a flood of calls like this. We make Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzels in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, the home of U.S. pretzels.  Our recipe uses classic sourdough ingredients, and we hand twist the dough then slow bake it, using a traditional pretzel baking process. 

The volume of consumer feedback we received after discontinuing Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzels drove our decision to bring them back this year.

Our Marketing team has a variety of plans to help spread the word about the reintroduction. "We're having fun with our marketing campaign and will launch a tongue-in-cheek print ad (sample above) demonstrating that Rold Gold is the gold standard in sourdough pretzel snacking,” Sindhura Polasanapalli (pictured right), Rold Gold associate marketing manager, told me. 

Sindhura’s team is also hosting sampling events and offering coupons in select markets. “We know that once consumers try Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzels, they'll love them," Sindhura explained.

You may remember a TV advertising campaign for Rold Gold Pretzels starring Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame that aired more than a decade ago.  I remember one spot in particular my wife, Janis, and I saw air during Super Bowl XXIX, while attending a Super Bowl party.  At halftime, everyone watched the TV as Jason Alexander appeared to parachute into the stadium and onto the football field where the Super Bowl was being played with a bag of Rold Gold pretzels in hand and his faithful dog, Sparky, strapped to him.  Of course, it was a joke. It was a taped commercial, but it took a moment for everyone to catch on since it looked so real. 

Over the years, we’ve launched a variety of flavors and shapes and aired funny ad spots for Rold Gold, but Janis and I are most excited about the reintroduction of the sourdough pretzels.  We'll be keeping our eyes out for the snack at our local supermarket.

Looking Back at Retirement, One Year Later

When I retired from Frito-Lay a little more than a year ago, several of my fellow retirees told me it takes about one year before retirement really sinks in.  At the time, I dismissed this insight.  Even though I'd worked at Frito-Lay for 30 years, I thought moving on would be pretty easy.  But now, I must admit I understand what they meant. 

It didn’t really strike me that I was truly retired until last week when I attended a retirement dinner for Dave Rader, Frito-Lay’s former Chief Financial Officer, and saw many of the people I used to work with on a day-to-day basis.  While it was fabulous seeing former co-workers at the dinner, as I listened to them chat about work topics that are now foreign to me, I realized I really have been gone for a while. 

At the dinner, I had the opportunity to give a short speech about the positive impact Dave made on Marketing while I was at Frito-Lay. (I even mentioned Dave’s support for Snack Chat and my interview podcast recording with him we recently featured on the blog.) 

Dave wrapped-up the evening by sharing fun stories from his 35-year career with the company and offering some touching comments about his wife and family.  It was one of the best retirement talks I've ever heard! 

Driving home afterward, my wife, Janis, asked me if I missed working. I told her I miss the people but also realize that I'm enjoying our new life very much and wouldn’t want to go back at this point.  As I said in my speech to Dave, some people view retirement as a sunset, but to me it has been a sunrise -- the beginning of a new chapter.  My days fly by and are filled spending more time with Janis, visiting our grandchildren, reading, working on photography, riding my bike, traveling, going to our lake house -- and of course -- writing the Snack Chat blog. (Maybe that means I’m not totally retired, huh?)

A day after Dave's retirement dinner, I read in The Dallas Morning News about Frito-Lay’s plan to move more of its portfolio to healthier snacks.  Of course, I was very proud of the company for taking this position and sharing the message at the PepsiCo annual meeting.  But it also struck me that I was reading the article through the eyes of an interested consumer and PepsiCo shareholder more so than as an employee.

Over the weekend, I had what I'll call my "transition dream."  Right after I retired, I occasionally dreamt I still worked at Frito-Lay.  Then, on Sunday night, I dreamt I attended a meeting at Frito-Lay and people wondered why I was there.  "He needs to let go,” someone in my dream said.

So after about a year, I think I can truly say it feels good to be retired.  Both my conscious and unconscious selves have come to terms with it, and I'll keep moving forward into my next sunrise.