Cheetos (formerly styled as Chee-tos until 1998) is a crunchy corn puff snack brand made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of
PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the U.S. The
initial success of Cheetos was a contributing factor to the merger between The Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company in
1961 to form Frito-Lay. In 1965 Frito-Lay became a subsidiary of The Pepsi-Cola Company, forming PepsiCo, the current
owner of the Cheetos brand.
In 2010, Cheetos was ranked as the top selling brand of cheese puffs in its primary market of the United States;
worldwide the annual retail sales totaled approximately $4 billion. The original Crunchy Cheetos are still in production
but the product line has since expanded to include 21 different types of Cheetos in North America alone. As Cheetos are
sold in more than 36 countries, the flavor and composition is often varied to match regional taste and cultural
preferences—such as Savory American Cream in China, and Strawberry Cheetos in Japan.