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Frito-Lay Investigations : 04/25/1995: Memorandum

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Memorandum U.S. Department of Justice Seal

Subject: Frito Lay/ [REDACTED TEXT (b7D)] Date: April 25, 1995
To: Kate Balaban From: Wendy Saltzman

[REDACTED TEXT (b7D)] lodged a complaint that payoffs were occurring in the snack food industry. He alleged that Frito Lay was offering retail store owners money to provide larger and more primely located shelve space for their products. Limits in the shelve space has forced competitors products off the shelves, giving Frito Lay a virtual monopoly over snack food market in both convenience and grocery stores. When [REDACTED TEXT (b7D)] goes into stores to try to market [REDACTED TEXT (b7D)] products, store owners are requesting money for shelve space, requiring [REDACTED TEXT (b7D)] to out-bid Frito Lay to be sold in the store.

[REDACTED TEXT (b7D)] maintained that this problem is not only present in the snack food industry but in the cereal, cigarette, and soda pop market as well. However, this problem has risen to such great portions in the snack food industry that [REDACTED TEXT (b7D)]

[REDACTED TEXT (b7D)] said that he will work on getting a store owner who has had dealings with Frito Lay to contact us concerning the payoffs. [REDACTED TEXT (b7D)]

Updated June 25, 2015