Lay's® Brand and Wisconsin Potato Farmers Puts Spotlight on America's Favorite Potato Chips in Their Journey From Seed to Shelf

PLANO, Texas, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Lay's, America's favorite potato chip and a brand from PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division, announced a unique "fresh rush delivery" of Lay's potato chips to the Wisconsin State Fair this weekend.  Within 24 hours, potatoes will have been harvested from the ground, cleaned, cut, cooked into delicious Lay's potato chips and delivered to the fair. The Lay's delivery truck will arrive with fresh Lay's potato chips to share with the estimated 100,000 community members attending the fair on Saturday, August 14th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The campaign marks another phase of the brand's strategy to celebrate the people and communities across the country that produce its line of potato chips.

The potatoes for this particular run are grown on a nearby potato farm, Heartland Farms, based in Hancock, WI. The potatoes will arrive at the Beloit Frito-Lay manufacturing facility where they will be immediately unloaded, washed, peeled and cut into thin slices. Next, the potatoes will be cooked in all natural oil and then given a dash of salt. Within thirty minutes of coming off the production line, the chips will be inspected and sealed into bags to preserve their fresh taste. The finished product will then be transferred to the Lay's route trucks that will go out for delivery. The chips will arrive at the Wisconsin State Fair less than 24 hours after the potatoes were harvested.

"Now more than ever, consumers are looking for ways to incorporate fresh ingredients and products into their daily diet," said Linda Bethea, Lay's brand manager, Frito-Lay North America. "We're excited to shine a spotlight on the people and the steps we take to ensure our potato chips get to consumers as quickly as possible for the freshest taste."

Visitors to the Wisconsin State Fair will have an opportunity to participate in family friendly activities including face painting, potato sack races, photo booth and a chance to talk with the Wisconsin state potato farmers. Attendees will also receive free samples of Lay's Classic Potato chips. The community carnival will go from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Wisconsin State Fair located at 640 South 84th Street West Allis, WI 53214.

More than 80 farms from 27 states across the country grow the potatoes that become Lay's potato chips.  In fact, in 2009 alone the brand used more than 2.8 billion pounds of potatoes from these farmers.  In addition, Lay's potato chips are made in 18 states at Frito-Lay facilities stretching from the East to West Coast and Frito-Lay employs a team of more than 40,000 people in all 50 states.

The Lay's campaigns are supported by multiple agency partners: Juniper Park (advertising), OMD (media buying), The Marketing Arm (events) and Ketchum (public relations).

Frito-Lay North America is the $13 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCO (NYSE: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate Web site, http://www.fritolay.com/, the Snack Chat blog, http://www.snacks.com/ and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/fritolay.

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generates more that $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in more than 200 countries. With annualized revenues of nearly $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

SOURCE Frito-Lay