Lay's (, ) is an American snack foods brand of potato chips and condiments that produce products in a range of different flavors that are sold in North America and various other countries across the world. The name derives from "Lay", the surname of the founder of the company originally formed in 1938 to produce potato chips.
The brand is also referred to as Frito-Lay, as both Lay's and Fritos are brands sold by the Frito-Lay company. The company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo since the merger with Pepsi in 1965. Frito-Lay uses the brand name "Lay's" in the United States and Canada. While PepsiCo also uses the brand name "Lay's" outside of North America, PepsiCo uses other brand names such as Walkers in the UK and Ireland, and Smith's in Australia.
The Lay's brand also contains the sub-brand of Lay's Stax, a stackable potato chip introduced as a competitor to Pringles.
History In 1932, salesman Herman Lay opened a snack food operation in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1938, he purchased the Atlanta, Georgia-based potato manufacturer Barrett Food Company, renaming it H.W. Lay Lingo & Company. Lay crisscrossed the southern United States, selling the product from the trunk of his car.
In 1961, the Frito Company, founded by Charles E. Doolin, merged with Lay’s, forming Frito-Lay Inc., a snack food giant with combined sales of over $127 million annually, which was then the highest sales revenue earned by any manufacturer. Shortly thereafter, Lay's introduced what became its best-known slogan: "betcha can't eat just one". Sales of the chips became international, with marketing assisted by a number of celebrity endorsers. Annual revenues for Frito-Lay exceeded $180 million by 1965, when the company had more than 8,000 employees and 46 manufacturing plants.
In 1965, Frito-Lay merged with the Pepsi-Cola Company to form PepsiCo, Inc. In 1991, the company introduced a new formulation of their chip that was crispier and kept fresher for longer. Shortly thereafter, the company introduced the "Lay's Wavy" products to grocery shelves, with a national rollout in 1994. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Lay's introduced a lower-calorie baked variety, and a fat-free variety (Lay's WOW chips) that contained the fat substitute olestra.
In the 2000s, the company introduced "kettle-cooked" varieties, as well as a more highly processed variety (Lay's Stax) that was intended to compete with Pringles, and several differently flavored varieties.
In 2012, Frito-Lay products comprised 59% of the United States savory snack-food market.
In April 2019, PepsiCo India sued four small farmers in Gujarat for intellectual property infringement, claiming they were growing the FC5 potato variety—used for production of Lay's—which the company had exclusive plant breeders' rights under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001. The company offered to settle if the farmers joined their potato farming program or stopped growing FC5 potatoes. Later, in May, the company withdrew the lawsuits after discussions with the Indian government and pressure from activists.
In December 2021, PepsiCo India had its registration of the FC5 potato variety revoked by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority after a petition by Kavitha Kuruganti, a farmers' rights activist. PepsiCo India appealed to the Delhi High Court for reinstatement of the registration, which was initially dismissed in July 2023. However, on second appeal to the same court, the registration was reinstated in January 2024.
In fall 2025, Lay's rebranded their logo "to showcase that every chip is rooted in real potatoes."
Nutritional information As with most snack foods, the Lay's brands contain very few vitamins and minerals. At 10% of the daily requirement per serving, vitamin C is the highest. The salt content is very high, with a serving containing as much as 380mg of sodium.
A 1oz (28g) serving of Lay's regular potato chips has 160 kcal, and contains 10g of fat, with 1g of saturated fat. Kettle-cooked brands have 7g to 8g grams of fat and 1g of saturated fat, and are 140 kcal. Lay's Natural has 9g of fat, 2g of which are saturated fat, and 150 kcal. Stax chips typically contain 10g of fat, 2.5g of saturated fat, and are 160 kcal per serving. Lay's Wavy are identical to the regular brand, except for a 0.5g less of saturated fat in some combinations. Lay's and various brands do not contain any trans fats.
A 50g serving of Lay's Barbecue chips contains 270 kcal, and 17g of fat. It also contains 270mg of sodium, and 15% of the daily recommended dose of Vitamin C.
The baked variety, introduced in the mid 1990s, contains 1.5g of fat per 1oz serving, and has no saturated fat. Each serving has 110 to 120 kcal. Lay's Light servings are 75 kcal per ounce and have no fat.
Lay's Classic Potato chips were cooked in hydrogenated oil until 2003.Tracy Sayler A Defining Moment for Sunflower . Oil Mill Gazetteer • Volume 112, December 2006 In 2024, according to ET, in the United States the chips are made with sunflower, corn and/or canola oil.
International Frito-Lay primarily uses the brand name "Lay's" in the United States, and uses other brand names in some other countries, including Walkers (UK and Ireland); Smith's (Australia); Chipsy (Egypt and the West Balkans); Tapuchips (Israel); Margarita (Colombia); and Sabritas (Mexico).
CountryDescriptionArgentinaPepsiCo commercialized potato chips under the name Frenchitas until 2001. They are now marketed under the Lay's label.AustraliaFrito-Lay acquired The Smith's Snackfood Company in 1998, finally bringing back together all arms of the former empire of Frank Smith, and merged its Frito-Lay Australian business into Smiths. Lay's crisps were rebranded with the name Thins. After Thins was sold to Snack Brands Australia (Owned by Arnotts), Smith's produced a line of potato chips under the Lay's brand for a brief period of time. The Lay's line was eventually rebranded in 2004 as Smith's Chips, while the traditional Smith's line was renamed Smith's Crinkles. This is still sold in Australia as a direct competitor to Smith's Chips. Since 2009, Lay's have been available in Australia exclusively at Costco, where they are available in a single flavor and size (500g plain). They continue to be manufactured in Australia by Smith's.BangladeshTranscom Group have marketed and produced Lay's as they manage the franchise of PepsiCo in the country. It was introduced in 2023 and Lay's India helped them to establish its production plant in Bogra District.BelgiumSmiths Food Group, another former part of Frank Smith's empire, was purchased by PepsiCo in 1992, and their products were re-branded as Lays in 2001.BrazilThe first attempt to sell the brand in the country was in 1999, but it was discontinued after a short time. In 2004 another brand of chips began to be sold under the name Sensações (lit. Sensations) being targeted to the older audience with more exquisite flavors. It returned in 2013 and has remained on sale since then. In 2021, the Sensações brand was renamed as Lay's Sensações.CanadaAs Lay's were produced by another company at that time, the chips were known as Hostess. In 1996, Hostess was rebranded to Lay's with a television commercial featuring Mark Messier and Eric Lindros aired in 1997 that relaunched the brand.ColombiaPepsiCo sell chips under the brand name Margarita.EgyptLay's was once sold under its own label until it was merged with the local label Chipsy ().FranceThe Lay's label has been used since 2003 replacing Croky.IndiaCricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir and actors Saif Ali Khan and Ranbir Kapoor have endorsed Lay's. It was introduced in 1995 as Ruffles Lay's and it retained the name until 1999.IndonesiaThe Lay's label is distributed in Indonesia under the name Chitato Lite after the licensing agreement between PepsiCo and Indofood had expired in 2021. In March 2025, Lay's was reintroduced in Indonesia, which is currently produced by PT PepsiCo Indonesia Foods and Beverages in Cikarang, Bekasi Regency, West Java, is available in two flavors, Seaweed and Sweet Spicy Sauce, as well as Lay's Wavy in two flavours, Onion Fried Chicken and Grilled Beef. While PT Quaker Indonesia imported Lay's Stax from PepsiCo Thailand since January 2025 in three flavors, Original, Sour Cream & Onion, and Spicy Prawn.IraqIn Iraq, Lay's potato chips are manufactured locally by the Green Iraq Company at its factory in the Bazian region of the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, operating under PepsiCo standards. Local production utilizes domestically grown industrial potatoes from the Kurdistan region. In late 2024, Lay's introduced specific locally-inspired flavors specifically developed for the Iraqi market.IsraelLay's label is distributed with the name Tapuchips (תפוצ'יפס) by Strauss-Elite.MexicoPepsiCo acquired Sabritas S. de R.L. in 1966. Lay's along with other products such as Cheetos, Fritos, Doritos and Ruffles are marketed under the Sabritas brand. The logo for the Mexican company sports the red ribbon, but it has a stylized smiling face instead of the sun. It controls around 80% of the market.NetherlandsLay's used to be called Smith's in Belgium and the Netherlands until the name changed to Lay's in 2001. The Smith's brand persisted until 2016 when other products were also changed to Lay's.PakistanIn Pakistan, Lay's has been introduced in 2007 and has been endorsed by a renowned star of the country Ali Zafar. It is owned by Frito-Lay Pakistan alongside other brands such as Cheetos, Kurkure etc.SerbiaLay's are distributed as Chipsy, domestic company acquired by PepsiCo in 2008.South AfricaLay's are distributed by the Simba Chip company.SpainPepsiCo brought the Lay's brand to Spain in 1998.United Arab EmiratesLay's are sold as different labels.VietnamThe chips were sold under the name of Poca until it was rebranded to Lay's in 2019.
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