Your Favorite Snack Was Actually Invented From Disney Theme Park Trash
Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955, and Walt Disney relied heavily on corporate sponsorships to help fund attractions and operations. Thus, major companies partnered with the park and often operated their own food locations inside the grounds. One of those companies was the Frito Company, founded by Charles Elmer Doolin. With Walt Disney’s approval, the company opened a restaurant in Frontierland called Casa de Fritos on August 11, 1955, just weeks after the park debuted.
Casa de Fritos served Tex-Mex-inspired dishes such as tamales, enchiladas, rice and beans, and taco salad, known at the time as “taco in a tacup.” Each meal typically came with a complimentary bag of Fritos corn chips. The restaurant relied on outside suppliers for many ingredients. The tortillas came from Alex Foods, a Mexican food supplier that worked with several restaurants in Disneyland during the 1950s. These tortillas are what became the inspiration behind the famous Doritos.
A Simple Observation Changed Everything
Inside Casa de Fritos’ kitchen, staff regularly tossed unused tortillas into the trash at the end of the day. The practice continued until a visiting salesman from Alex Foods noticed the waste. He suggested that they cut the leftover tortillas into triangles and fry them instead of throwing them away. The kitchen followed the advice and produced a batch of crisp tortilla chips.
Guests quickly embraced the crunchy snack. The fried tortilla pieces replaced the complimentary bags of Fritos that originally accompanied meals at Casa de Fritos. At the time, the chips carried no seasoning and had a simple flavor similar to traditional Mexican totopos. Still, visitors enjoyed them enough that the idea stuck.
Arch West Saw A Bigger Opportunity
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Dane Unknoen
The fried tortilla chips remained a small attraction inside Disneyland until the early 1960s. Around that time, the Frito Company merged with H.W. Lay & Company to form Frito-Lay. During a family visit to Disneyland in 1964, Frito-Lay marketing executive Archibald Clark West stopped at Casa de Fritos and tried the chips.
West recognized its potential as a packaged snack. After returning to the company, he pushed for producing a triangular tortilla chip for nationwide store sales. The company began developing the concept and soon introduced the product under a new name.
Doritos Became A National Snack
Image via Reddit/tamagotchibaby
Doritos officially launched across the United States in 1966. The first version, “Toasted Corn,” featured a simple, unseasoned tortilla chip. The product became the first tortilla chip sold nationally in the United States.
Flavor experimentation soon followed. Taco-flavored Doritos arrived in 1967 as the chips’ first bold seasoning. Nacho Cheese entered the lineup in 1972 and quickly became the brand’s top-selling flavor. Cool Ranch came in 1986 and helped secure Doritos as a staple snack across the country.
The Disneyland Connection Still Exists
The original birthplace of the chip is still inside Disneyland today. Casa de Fritos eventually became Casa Mexicana in 1982 before transforming into Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante in 2001. The restaurant is located between Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Frontierland Shootin’ Exposition.
Doritos no longer appear on the menu there. Still, the location marks the spot where a discarded stack of tortillas inspired a snack that later reached grocery stores around the world.