Frito-Lay Sets Up Shop in Times Square

PLANO, TexasPepsiCos Frito-Lay division kicked-off a weeklong event in New York City aimed at providing consumers with a behind-the-scenes look at how it develops new flavors and snacks.

On top of the Times Square billboard, Frito-Lay recreated its Flavor Kitchen located at the company's headquarters to share the real foods and recipes that have inspired many of its latest, snack flavors made with all natural ingredients. The billboard experience, running April 11-15, will be live-streamed all week from the screens that reach 22 stories above Times Square, and also on the Frito-Lay Facebook page.

Now more than ever, consumers want to know where the foods they love come from and how they are made," said Ann Mukherjee, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Frito-Lay. What better way to share the story behind Frito-Lay snacks than by giving consumers a look inside our Flavor Kitchen to see first-hand the all-natural ingredients and real foods that inspire the products we make."

Kicking off the first day of a weeklong cooking demonstration will be Frito-Lay's Executive Chef Stephen Kalil and "Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi. Other guest chefs will include Michael Psilakis, Jet Tila and Colombe Jacobsen.

Each day, Kalil and his team of flavor experts will showcase a different product from Frito-Lays natural portfolio and the culinary inspiration behind them. He will spotlight other recipes that could inspire new flavors for Frito-Lay chips in the future, transforming Times Square into a virtual test kitchen for possible snacks that could show up on store shelves sometime soon. Consumers visiting Times Square will have the opportunity to sample the various recipes and the products they inspired, as well as provide insight regarding their own flavor preferences.

Frito-Lay also is bringing elements and experiences from its Flavor Kitchen to consumers nationwide in a variety of innovative ways, including:

Culinary Web SeriesThe Flavor Kitchen team, led by Chef Kalil with host Laura MacIntosh, offers wholesome, simple and delicious meal solutions for busy moms through a series of online cooking webisodes available at www.facebook.com/fritolay. Content from the Times Square recipe demonstrations will be incorporated into future episodes.

Zynga FarmVille IntegrationFrito-Lay connects the Flavor Kitchen experience to its Facebook fans with a sponsored integration in Zyngas FarmVille. On April 11, FarmVille players have the chance to harvest Frito-Lay sponsored in-game crops used in the Flavor Kitchen to create Frito-Lay snacks made with all-natural ingredients. In return, FarmVille players can earn exclusive virtual goods.

Quick-Response (QR) codesQR codes in print advertisements and on specially marked in-store promotional displays unlock Flavor Kitchen recipes, webisodes and links to other content via smartphones.

On-Package Bar CodesScanning the on-pack barcodes with smartphones allows consumers to view a Seed to Shelf" mini-documentary that spotlights the story behind several of Frito-Lays snacks made with all-natural ingredients, along with nutritional information and other content.