When the chips are down: one by one, most Frito-Lay foes have fallen. Now, with its introduction of Stax potato chips, the snack food giant is betting that Procter & Gamble--and Pringles--will be next.

Food Processing, December, 2003 by Neff, Jack

When a tornado ripped through a Pringles potato chip plant in Jackson, Tenn., last May, manufacturer Procter & Gamble bounced back to resume limited production of the brand in eight days, and full production within two months.

But P&G may require greater stores of resilience to weather the tsunami known as Frito-Lay. The PepsiCo unit's long-awaited and long-delayed launch of Pringles look-alike Lay's Stax finally hit stores in September, six months after originally planned.

Despite initial mixed reviews for Stax, veterans of the chip wars expect Frito-Lay to mount a full offensive aimed at driving P&G from the snack business, just as it did Anheuser-Busch and Keebler a decade or more ago. The canned potato crisp business may not be big enough for two...

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