The History of Cool Ranch Doritos

Cool Ranch Doritos were created by former Yum Brands CEO David Novak in the early 1980s. At the time, Frito-Lay was struggling to maintain its market share. The company’s most successful product was Doritos, but Novak knew he and his team needed something new. One day in 1984, Novak took his team to a Texas grocery store to get an idea of potential trends. When they reached the salad dressing aisle, he was struck with an idea. Novack realized the ranch was the fastest-growing salad dressing flavor and came up with the concept of combining the up-and-coming flavor with the company’s best-selling chips, Doritos. Soon after, Cool Ranch Doritos were born. The new chips hit store shelves in 1986 and have been a perennial fan favorite ever since.