Better Made Potato Chips Inc. is a brand name for a variety of potato chips in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that was founded in 1930. Better Made is also the name of the company that produces the potato chips. The company provides consumers with a wide variety of potato chips, pork rinds,

cheese curls Cheese puffs, cheese curls, cheese balls, cheese ball puffs, cheesy puffs, or corn curls are a puffed corn snack, coated with a mixture of cheese or cheese-flavored powders. They are manufactured by extruding heated corn dough through a die ...

, and cheese puffs.

History

In 1930, Cross Moceri and Peter Cipriano purchased a potato chip factory in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The building is located on the east side of Detroit on

Gratiot Avenue M-3 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the Detroit metropolitan area of the US state of Michigan. For most of its length, the trunkline is known as Gratiot Avenue (, ). The trunkline starts in Downtown Detroit and runs through the cit ...

near Belle Isle,

Downtown Detroit Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, downtown tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Lodge Freeway) to the west, Interstate 75 ( ...

, and Eastern Market. In 1934, the company was known as Cross & Peters Company. That same year, Peter and Cross launched their first and only brand of potato chips: Better Made. At the time, there were 31 potato chip companies in the City of Detroit. In 1937, workers at the company unionized and pay increased to 40 cents per hour. With sales up, the company moved to its current location on Gratiot Avenue on the east side of Detroit in 1955. New and improved fryers cooked up to 100 pounds of potato chips at a time. In 1955, wavy and rigid potato chips were introduced, and in the 1960s, Popcorn, Barbecue, Red Hot, and Cheese flavors. By the 1970s, Better Made expanded sales to

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. Peter Cipriano died in 1981. Three months later, Cross Moceri died as well. Ownership was inherited and split equally between the sons of the two men. Robert Marriacino was hired as president of the company with all children of the two men holding high ranking positions within the company. In 1990, the 60th anniversary of Cross & Peters Company was celebrated with special edition bags of chips and new special edition flavors such as ketchup. In 2003, the Moceri family's ownership interests in the company were bought out. The company rebranded as Better Made Snack Foods Inc. That same year, the company sold 36 million dollars of products. In 2008, the company made their products available for online purchase. In 1994, the company merged with a potato chip firm, Made-Rite Chip Company, in

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...

. In 2015, Arcadia published the book "Better Made in Michigan - The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip" by Karen Dybis.

In popular culture

The company was featured in the series finale of '' Detroiters'', including interior shots in the factory.

References

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External links

Better Made Home Page
Brand name snack foods Brand name potato chips and crisps Snack food manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Detroit American companies established in 1930 Food and drink companies established in 1930 1930 establishments in Michigan Culture of Detroit