Zapp's is a brand 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 ap ...

made 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 territori ...

. The chips are cooked and packaged in

Gramercy, Louisiana Gramercy is a town in the U.S. state of Louisiana, in St. James Parish. It is part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area . The population was 3,613 at the time of the 2010 U.S. census and 3,188 according to the 2020 population estimates program ...

. The chips are

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a type of pot specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle'', or a small electric kitchen appliance of similar shape that functions in a self-contained ...

-cooked in

peanut oil Peanut oil, also known as groundnut oil or arachis oil, is a vegetable oil derived from peanuts. The oil usually has a mild or neutral flavor but, if made with roasted peanuts, has a stronger peanut flavor and aroma. It is often used in America ...

(instead of

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or f ...

, which many other companies use), except for the Bourbon St. Smokey Sweet flavor which are 'thin & cripsy'. Zapp's market themselves with their

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

heritage, using names such as "Spicy Cajun Crawtator", "Sour Cream and Creole Onion" and "Cajun Dill Gator-tators". Others, in addition to the "Regular Flavored" include "Hotter 'N Hot Jalapeño" ,"Mesquite BBQ" and "Voodoo" chip flavors. They have also marketed numerous chips such as a limited edition Mardi Gras chip. The company was founded by Ron Zappe, who graduated from

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

with a degree in industrial engineering and became a distributor of pumps and other oil-field equipment. His four companies went bankrupt during the 1980s oil bust; he moved from Houston to Louisiana and started a potato chip business. (Zappe later received national attention for his

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

campaign appearance on behalf of Republican vice presidential candidate

Dan Quayle James Danforth Quayle (; born February 4, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. A member of the Republican Party, Quayle served as a U.S. ...

, crediting a jobs program co-created by Quayle with enabling him to start his factory in Gramercy.) Zappe's first creation, the Cajun Crawtator, was introduced in 1985 as the nation's first spicy Cajun chip. Zapp's "Tiger Tators" were the first food product licensed by

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, and it also sold " Who Dat?" chips in honor of the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. Zapp's most popular flavor is "Voodoo" which was created in 2008 by Kevin Holden, General Manager and a shareholder of the company. In 1993 Zapp's acquired the Dirty Chip Company in Memphis, TN which manufactures Dirty Chips brand kettle chips. In 2006 Zapp's acquired the California Chip Company in Oxnard, CA which manufactures California Chips brand potato chips. Zappe appeared on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...

'' in 1997, and the chips were profiled in national publications such as ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''. Zappe died in Houston, Texas on June 1, 2010 at the age of 67. In January 2011, it was reported that the company would be sold to Utz Quality Foods of

Hanover, Pennsylvania Hanover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, southwest of York and north-northwest of Baltimore, Maryland and is north of the Mason-Dixon line. The town is situated in a productive agricultural region. The population was 16,429 at the ...

."Zapp's of Gramercy being sold to Pennsylvania company"
AP in ''

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'', January 7, 2011. The sale to Utz was completed in April 2011. Zapp's operates as a wholly owned subsidiary, continuing to manufacture at the Gramercy plant.

References

External links

Zapp's.comFormer Zapp's execs entering tortilla business
1985 establishments in Louisiana Brand name potato chips and crisps Brand name snack foods Food and drink companies based in Louisiana Food and drink companies established in 1985 Snack food manufacturers of the United States St. James Parish, Louisiana {{food-product-stub