{{Short description|American businessman}} '''Archibald Clark West''' (September 8, 1914 – September 20, 2011) was a marketing executive credited with the development of Doritos, a brand of seasoned tortilla chips.<ref name=nytimes>{{cite news|first=Dennis|last=Hevesi|title=Arch West, Who Helped Create Doritos Corn Chips, Is Dead at 97 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/business/arch-west-who-helped-create-doritos-corn-chips-is-dead-at-97.html |work=The New York Times |date=2011-09-28|access-date=2011-10-13}}</ref><ref name=hc>{{cite news|title=Doritos creator dies in Dallas at 97 |url=http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Creator-of-Doritos-dies-in-Dallas-at-97-2188437.php |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Houston Chronicle |date=2011-09-26|access-date=2011-10-13}}</ref><ref name=tstar>{{cite news|first=Katie|last=Daubs|title=No cheesy farewell for Doritos creator |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1059722--no-cheesy-farewell-for-doritos-creator |work=Toronto Star |date=2011-09-27|access-date=2011-10-13}}</ref><ref name=wp>{{cite news|first=T.|last=Rees Shapiro|title=Arch West, 97, invented Doritos for Frito-Lay |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/arch-west-97-invented-doritos-for-frito-lay/2011/09/26/gIQAfYpE0K_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2011-09-26|access-date=2011-10-13}}</ref> The successful snack food was marketed as an alternative to the more traditional potato chips.<ref name=nytimes/> Doritos are now Frito-Lay's second best-selling item, bested only by Lay's Potato Chips.<ref name=nytimes/> An estimated five billion dollars in Doritos are sold every year worldwide.<ref name=nytimes/>
==Biography== ===Early life=== West was born on September 8, 1914, in Indianapolis, Indiana.<ref name=nytimes/> His parents, James and Jessie West, were immigrants from Scotland.<ref name=wp/> West and his brother were raised at a Masonic home because his mother was too impoverished to care for them.<ref name=wp/>
He received a bachelor's degree in business from Franklin College in Indiana in 1936. West was also a member of Kappa Delta Rho during his time at FC.<ref name=nytimes/> West then served in the United States Navy in the Pacific theater during World War II as a gunnery officer aboard the USS Holt.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=wp/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=2011-09-28 |title=PASSINGS: Johnnie Wright, Arch West |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-xpm-2011-sep-28-la-me-passings-20110928-story.html |access-date=2024-10-31 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
===Career=== He began his career at Standard Brands, where he worked as a traveling sales representative.<ref name=wp/> West then switched careers to advertising, based in New York City.<ref name=wp/> His early portfolio included the Jell-O ad campaign.<ref name=tstar/><ref name=wp/>
Arch West joined the staff of the Frito Company, now called Frito-Lay, in 1960.<ref name=nytimes/> (Pepsi acquired Frito-Lay in 1965.)<ref name=wp/> West is widely credited for the invention and development of one of the company's signature products, Doritos.<ref name=nytimes/> According to West's daughter, Jana Hacker, West first envisioned the idea of Doritos in the early 1960s while working as Frito's vice president of marketing.<ref name=nytimes/> West was vacationing with his family in San Diego, California, in 1961, when he noticed customers at a small, roadside restaurant eating corn chips that had been deep fried.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=hc/><ref name=tstar/> West reportedly enjoyed the taste of this type of snack food.
Almost simultaneously, Frito merged with the H.W. Lay Company in 1961.<ref name=wp/> West pitched the idea for Doritos soon after. His colleagues at Frito-Lay were initially not enthusiastic about his idea for a snack food made from tortilla chips.<ref name=hc/> However, West conducted market research and development which revealed a potential market for his proposed snack.<ref name=hc/><ref name=tstar/> The company produced the first Doritos chips in 1964.<ref name=nytimes/> West developed the snack as a triangle-shaped, crispy tortilla chip flavored with chilli and cheese.<ref name=nytimes/> The shape and signature orange color of the chips were inspired by West's fraternity at Franklin, Kappa Delta Rho. The first flavors of Doritos were corn and taco and an early television commercial called Doritos "a swinging, Latin sort of snack."<ref name=tstar/><ref name=wp/> Author Andrew F. Smith noted West's credited contributions to Doritos in his 2006 book, ''Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food''.<ref name=nytimes/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Andrew F. |title=Encyclopedia of junk food and fast food |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=0-313-33527-3 |page=78 |quote=Arch West, an executive vice president of Frito-Lay, Inc., is credited with inventing the triangular corn chip called Doritos, which means "little bits of gold" in Spanish.}}</ref>
West also had a hand in the marketing of Pace salsas and picante sauces.<ref name=wp/> He was a longtime friend of Dave Pace, the founder of Pace Foods. West suggested that Pace's products be displayed on the same grocery aisle as the chips, rather than with ketchup.<ref name=wp/> The move quickly increased sales of Pace products.<ref name=wp/>
West retired from his position as vice president of marketing at Frito-Lay in 1971.<ref name=wp/>
===Later life=== West was injured in a car accident while volunteering for disaster relief in Amarillo, Texas, circa 1990, but recovered from his injuries.<ref name=tstar/> His car was hit by a tanker truck in the accident.<ref name=tstar/>
Arch West died from peritonitis and complications from vascular surgery at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas on September 20, 2011, at the age of 97.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=wp/> He and his wife, Charlotte F. Thomson (died 2010), had four children.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=wp/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:West, Arch}} Category:1914 births Category:2011 deaths Category:American marketing people Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:Businesspeople from Dallas Category:Franklin College (Indiana) alumni Category:Deaths from peritonitis Category:Frito-Lay