The Cheetos brand is owned by PepsiCo, through its snack division Frito-Lay, which manufactures and markets Cheetos as part of PepsiCo’s global snack portfolio.

Quick Scoop: Who owns Cheetos?

  • Cheetos is a snack brand made by Frito-Lay , a major snack company.
  • Frito-Lay itself is a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc. , so PepsiCo is the ultimate owner of Cheetos.
  • Cheetos was originally created by Charles Elmer Doolin at The Frito Company in 1948 and later became part of Frito-Lay, then PepsiCo after corporate mergers in the 1960s.

So if you’re wondering “who owns Cheetos” today: it’s PepsiCo (via Frito-Lay).

Mini history snapshot

  • 1948: Cheetos invented by Charles Elmer Doolin at The Frito Company.
  • 1961: The Frito Company merges with H.W. Lay & Company to form Frito-Lay; Cheetos becomes one of its key snack brands.
  • 1965: Frito-Lay becomes part of PepsiCo, making PepsiCo the corporate owner of Cheetos from then on.

Simple ownership table (HTML)

Level Name Role in Cheetos
Brand Cheetos Snack product line (cheese-flavored corn snacks)
Operating company Frito-Lay Manufactures and markets Cheetos as part of its snack portfolio
Parent company PepsiCo, Inc. Global food and beverage conglomerate that owns Frito-Lay and the Cheetos brand

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.