Kettle Foods, Inc. is an American manufacturer of

potato chip A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or appe ...

s, based in

Salem, Oregon Salem ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County, Oregon, Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river ...

, United States, with a European and Middle East headquarters in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, United Kingdom. As of 2006 they were the largest

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are p ...

potato chip

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

in the U.S. The company, founded in 1978 by Cameron Healy as "N.S. Khalsa Company", was previously sold to Lion Capital in 2006 and was owned by

Diamond Foods Diamond Foods was an American packaged food company based in San Francisco, that marketed nuts (particularly walnuts and almonds) and other snack foods. Diamond Foods was acquired by Snyder's-Lance in 2016, and as of 2018, Campbell Soup Company ...

from 2010 to 2016. In February 2016,

Snyder's-Lance Snyder's-Lance, Inc. is the second largest salty snack maker in the United States. It was formed by the 2010 merger of Lance Inc. and Snyder's of Hanover. The company is a subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company. History On September 6, 2012, ...

finalized their purchase of Diamond Foods. Snyder's-Lance (and their Kettle Foods division) was purchased by

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

-based

Campbell Soup Company Campbell Soup Company, trade name, doing business as Campbell's, is an American processed food and snack company. The company is most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products; however, through mergers and acquisitions, it has gro ...

in March 2018.

History

The company was founded by Cameron Healy in 1978 as the "N.S. Khalsa Company"; it produced its first potato chips in 1982. In 1988, following a motorcycle trip taken by the company's founder and his son, Kettle Foods established a UK branch in a converted shoe factory in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England; the branch moved five years later to its current UK home, a newly built factory on the outskirts of Norwich. In 2003, the company installed the largest solar array in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

with the goal of using more

green energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of environmental aspects such as greenho ...

at their Salem plant. The company was sold in 2006 to a British

private equity group A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including lev ...

Lion Capital LLP Lion Capital LLP is a British private equity firm specialising in investments in the consumer sector. Previous and current consumer brands owned by Lion have included Weetabix, Jimmy Choo, Wagamama, Kettle Foods and AllSaints. The firm is head ...

, for $280–320 million. In September 2007, the company opened its second US production facility in

Beloit, Wisconsin Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people. History Twelve men in Colebrook, New Hampshire, created the "New England Emigrating Company" in October 1836 and sent ...

, after receiving $500,000 in state economic development money. Kettle built the first manufacturing plant to be awarded ''gold certification'' in the

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

program from the

United States Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

. In October 2007, campaigns were launched on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

calling for a boycott of Kettle Foods products following allegations that the company was attempting to dissuade workers at its

factory from joining trade union

Unite Unite may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London * ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993 * ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005 Songs ...

. The company denied the claim but acknowledged that it had taken advice from Omega Training, a UK subsidiary of the U.S. company

The Burke Group The Burke Group is a U.S.-based international management consulting firm. Formally known as Burke International and founded in 1982 by Steven J Burke Sr., the company has headquarters in Canberra, Australia; Casper, Wyoming, United States; Los Ang ...

, specialists in union avoidance. In August 2008,

California Attorney General The attorney general of California is the state attorney general of the Government of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" (Constitution of California, Article V, Section ...

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

announced a settlement with Kettle Foods, the makers of

Cape Cod Potato Chips Cape Cod Potato Chips is an American snack food company best known for their brand of kettle-cooked potato chips. The company is headquartered in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Cape Cod Potato Chips is a brand owned by Campbell Soup Compan ...

, and

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavor ...

for violating the state's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. The state had alleged in 2005 that the potato chips from the companies failed to document that they contained high levels of

acrylamide Acrylamide (or acrylic amide) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH2=CHC(O)NH2. It is a white odorless solid, soluble in water and several organic solvents. From the chemistry perspective, acrylamide is a vinyl-substituted primary ...

, a

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

. Kettle Foods paid $350,000 in civil penalties and costs and agreed to cut their potato chips' levels of acrylamide to 275 parts per billion by 2011, an 87% reduction. Lion Capital put Kettle Foods up for sale in December 2009, with an asking price of around US$700 million and in February 2010 sold it for $615 million to California-based

, which owns brands such as

Pop Secret Pop Secret is an American brand of popcorn, owned and marketed by Snyder's-Lance – a subsidiary of Campbell Soup Company since 2017. Snyder's-Lance had acquired the Pop Secret brand from Diamond Foods in early 2016. ''Pop Secret'' popcorns wer ...

popcorn. The sale was finalized the following month.

Outside of the US and UK

The Kettle Foods UK office also supports a network of independent distributors through which Kettle Foods' products are made available to countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden. Kettle Foods is unaffiliated with the ''Kettle Chip'' brand sold in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

which is owned by

Snack Brands Australia Snack Brands Australia (SBA) is one of the largest suppliers of snack foods in Australia and acts as the main competitor to the long established The Smith's Snackfood Company. The company was founded in August 1998 as a subsidiary of parent co ...

Potato chips

Kettle Foods products, marketed as all-natural, is best-known for its potato chips. Their potato chips are fried using expeller-pressed high-

monounsaturated In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...

safflower Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along ...

and/or

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

and/or

canola oil Close-up of canola blooms Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several cultivars of the plant family Brassicaceae. Historically, i ...

. The company has occasionally held contests to introduce new flavors. The 2006 contest winners were "Tuscan Three Cheese" and "Buffalo Bleu", a spicy, savory chip; past contest winners include "Cheddar Beer", "Jalapeno Jack" and "Spicy Thai".

Ingredients

As of 2016, the ingredients for the company's most basic chip ("Sea Salt") were: potatoes,

and/or

sea salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sa ...

. Many other flavors use ingredients like

natural flavors A flavoring (or flavouring), also known as flavor (or flavour) or flavorant, is a food additive used to improve the taste or smell of food. It changes the perceptual impression of food as determined primarily by the chemoreceptors of the gustat ...

spices A spice is a seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garni ...

citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula HOC(CO2H)(CH2CO2H)2. It is a colorless weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, which occurs in t ...

, and

yeast extract Yeast extracts consist of the cell contents of yeast without the cell walls; they are used as food additives or flavorings, or as nutrients for bacterial culture media. They are often used to create savory flavors and umami taste sensations, a ...

Flavors

The following is a list of potato chip flavors sold by the company (as of 2018):

United States

* Backyard Barbeque * Bourbon BBQ * Dill Pickle (Krinkle Cut) * Honey

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

* Habanero Lime (Krinkle Cut) * Jalapeño * Korean BBQ * Carolina BBQ * New York Cheddar * Pepperoncini * Parmesan Garlic * Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper (Krinkle Cut) *

Sea Salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sa ...

* Sea Salt & Vinegar * Sour Cream & Onion * Spicy Queso (Krinkle Cut) * Spicy Thai *

Sriracha Sriracha ( or ; th, ศรีราชา, ) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt. Use In Thailand, sriracha is frequently used as a dipping sauce, particular ...

* Truffle & Sea Salt (Krinkle Cut) * Unsalted * Jalapeno Jack * Red Chili * Salsa with Mesquite

United Kingdom

* Crispy Bacon & Maple Syrup * Gressingham Duck (Plum Sauce and Spring onion) * Jalapeño Chilli * Lightly Salted * Mature Cheddar & Red Onion * No Added Salt * Sea Salt with Crushed Black Peppercorns * Sea Salt & Balsamic Vinegar * Smoky Barbecue * Sour Cream and Onion * Spicy Chilli * Steakhouse Barbecue * Sweet Chilli (& Sour Cream)

Rest of Europe and the Middle East, as of 2013

* Sea Salt * Honey Barbecue * Sweet Chilli & Sour Cream * Sour Cream & Sweet Onion * Sea Salt, Rosemary & Garlic * Crispy Bacon & Maple Syrup * Mature Cheddar & Red Onion * Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar * Sea Salt & Crushed Black Pepper * Chilli with Jalapeño & Red Chillies ;Notes

References

External links

* {{Companies based in Salem, Oregon Brand name snack foods Brand name potato chips and crisps Snack food manufacturers of the United States Food manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Salem, Oregon Beloit, Wisconsin Companies based in Norwich Food and drink companies established in 1978 2006 mergers and acquisitions 2010 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions 1978 establishments in Oregon Snyder's-Lance Inc. brands