Snack Chat

Spending A Day in the Life of a Frito-Lay Sales Representative

There’s nothing better than walking into a store to see a freshly stocked display of Frito-Lay snacks. But then, as a Frito-Lay employee, I’m a little biased.

Did you know our snacks are delivered to stores and merchandised on shelves by our own employees? We use what’s called a direct-store-delivery system, which means that Frito-Lay employees -- Route Sales Representatives (or RSRs, as we call them) -- deliver our snacks directly to stores, merchandise them on shelves, sell-in point-of-sale materials, programs and space, and place orders to ultimately bring the Frito-Lay experience to life for shoppers. It's a great way to make sure our products are always fresh, organized and handled with care.  

I recently had a chance to ride along with one of our Dallas-area RSRs for the day, and let me tell you: These men and women work hard! Armed with a thermos full of the strongest coffee I could make, I arrived at one of our local distribution centers at 3:30 a.m. to meet the RSR I was paired with for the day. Within minutes, we were in our truck (that's it on the right) loaded with Frito-Lay snacks and on our way.

While it was hard work, the experience left me with a renewed appreciation for our 20,000 employees who are in the market every day making sure your favorite snacks are on the shelf and ready for you to shop. After all, you can’t really understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes -- and judging by how sore my feet were at the end of the day, I think the work our RSRs do is quite amazing!

- Sara

PepsiCo Gives Back with Feed the Children in 2013

As part of my job on the Frito-Lay Public Relations team, I have the privilege of helping plan and attending the community events we're partnering with Feed the Children to bring to life across the U.S. this year. We've been working with Feed the Children for a few years now and are proud to take our partnership to a new level in 2013.

This year, PepsiCo and Feed the Children will host distribution events to provide food and personal care items -- as well as a variety of PepsiCo snacks and beverages -- to families in need across 15 different cities. That's nearly double the number of cities we visited last year!

So far this year, we've been to New Orleans, Phoenix, Washington D.C., Miami, Buffalo and Dallas, which as you probably know, is home to Frito-Lay headquarters. A few things stand out to me when we travel around the country to each of these events, and I wanted to share three of them here with you:

• Our local Frito-Lay and PepsiCo teams (our Dallas/Fort Worth area teams are pictured above) lead the charge in each city, donating their time and logistical expertise to help execute each of the distribution events. In all of the cities we've been in, I have never heard even the slightest complaint from any of our volunteers. They are truly happy and humbled to serve their communities.
• We have the best retail partners. Our local teams often invite one or more of our retail partners in the community to join us for the distribution events. I especially love when they do because the retailers embrace the opportunity just as passionately as we do -- and are quick to offer additional food donations and volunteers as well.
• People are truly thankful and appreciative for what we're doing in their communities. I remember in Washington D.C. last fall, one women receiving assistance during the event made a point to make eye contact with and say thank you to every single PepsiCo and Walmart volunteer she passed. Sometimes, it's just the small things that touch you most.

As we move forward through the rest of the year, we'll be in cities from Los Angeles to Hartford, Conn., and many places in between. I look forward to having even more stories to share with you as we go. 

Cheers,

Kristin

Hawaii Zone Honored as Frito-Lay's 2012 'Zone of the Year'

No offense intended to any of our previous winners, but if I was a Frito-Lay senior leader I think I would be especially excited our Hawaii Zone was honored this week as Frito-Lay's 2012 “Zone of the Year.” You see, each year company leaders travel to the winning zone for a special ceremony celebrating the team's accomplishments, during which leaders greet our Sales team members on the red carpet and serve them a delicious catered meal. It's always an amazing experience no matter where the winning zone is located -- but I certainly wouldn't complain if I had the opportunity to celebrate in Hawaii!

The Hawaii Zone received the Dale Stortz Award, named after one of Frito-Lay's most respected sales leaders, for demonstrating the most outstanding performance in sales, profitability, safety and employee retention. The zone, which encompassess all of the Hawaiian islands, was named No. 1 out of 135 Sales zones nationwide.

The Dale Stortz Award is one that all of our zone teams strive to achieve each and every year. Congratulations to our Hawaii Zone for being the best-of-the-best in 2012!

- Michael

Celebrating the Best of the Best at the 2013 Frito-Lay National Meeting

Today I'm excited to introduce the newest member of our Snack Chat blogging team - Sara Johnson! Besides being a big fan of Fritos Scoops! corn chips, Sara is also a Senior Communications Specialist on Frito-Lay's internal communications team. We're happy to have her on board and hope you enjoy her posts. - Joe

With only a few months at Frito-Lay under my belt, I was excited when I recently had the opportunity to attend the 2013 Frito-Lay National Meeting -- a gathering of more than 1,000 of our Sales and Supply Chain associates from around the country. The meeting is a chance for employees to celebrate and recognize amazing accomplishments from 2012, while also learning about the company’s priorities for 2013. It also didn’t hurt that it was in New Orleans, home of po’ boys and jambalaya -- two of my favorite dishes!

The meeting exceeded my expectations. I met some great people and got an in-depth look at Frito-Lay’s plans (and yes, I also enjoyed some delicious New Orleans cuisine!). But for me, the coolest part was the first afternoon when attendees gathered to recognize nearly 300 of the “best of the best” frontline employees -- the employees who make, move and sell our products -- for their 2012 accomplishments.

This was no ordinary awards ceremony. The energy rivaled any professional sporting event I’ve ever attended. The mood was electric as we cheered while the sounds of whistles, air horns and wildly pounding thundersticks echoed through the room in support of the award recipients.

The audience’s response to the frontline honorees gave me goose bumps. These individuals are the backbone of our company; they work tirelessly day-in and day-out to ensure our products get made and shipped to stores, even in the face of snowstorms, hurricanes and busy Super Bowl weekends. The outpouring of appreciation they received from the audience was inspiring. It reinforced for me that Frito-Lay’s people really are the best in the business -- and that I’m incredibly proud to be a part of the team.

- Sara

Frito-Lay Snack Masters: Meet Cely Moreno

Last month, we introduced a new Snack Chat series called Frito-Lay Snack Masters, in which we profile the accomplishments and careers of our fabulous employees and the incredible work they're doing as true masters of their crafts. Today, we're featuring an interview with Cely Moreno (pictured on the right), director of marketing for Frito-Lay. Listen to Cely's thoughts on the important role passion plays in marketing, the advantages of social media and her advice on how to begin a career in marketing in the podcast interview below. But first, a few fun facts about Cely:

• First job after grad school: I worked in Chicago, marketing the No. 1 bread brand in the country. In that role, I was tasked with increasing household penetration and strengthening brand equity -- a great learning experience.

• First role at Frito-Lay: I joined Frito-Lay as a marketing manager on the brand activation side of the business for the Doritos brand. My favorite Frito-Lay snack is still Doritos Spicy Nacho Cheese tortilla chips.

• Favorite products or projects worked on at Frito-Lay: While working on brand activation, I had the opportunity to work on the first gaming partnership the Doritos brand did with the Madden property, which was really innovative for a snack food brand at the time. Then, in my shopper marketing role, I was part of the team that tested one of our newer products, SunChips 6 Grain Medley snacks, in Target stores to gauge consumer reaction before launching it across retail stores nationally. It's a great product, and I'm proud to see it in wider distribution. Most recently, in my role in sports marketing, I had the chance to bring to life all our Super Bowl media and activation.  

Frito-Lay Snack Masters - Cely Moreno

- Kristin