Baking & Snack - November 2007 - 37

were going to meet rising demand."
Such growth is unusual among snack foods lately,
according to Mr. Fallon. He described the regular potato
chip market as soft, "but premium chips like ours seem to
be growing at double-digit rates."
For Kettle Foods, the fastest climb in sales is taking
place in the Midwest and on the East Coast, and the new
Beloit plant now supplies a market that stretches from
the front range of the Rockies to Texas and from Maine
to Florida. It ships its potato chips to a Chicago, IL,
distribution center, a third-party warehouse.
The facility's design, however, provides ample floor space
to double capacity without moving any walls. "We are currently at capacity here," Mr. Fallon said. "It's been a good
year. At Beloit, we set production records every week this
month. The plant's business can be doubled in two years,
and we are on track to double it again in three years."
UNIQUE BUSINESS. This rather unusual plant was built
by a rather unusual company. Founded by Cameron
Healy in 1978 to make and market natural foods, its first
products were roasted nuts, trail mixes and nut butters.
Hand-cooked, batch-style potato chips joined the company's roster in 1982. Six years later, Kettle Foods Ltd.
started up in Norwich, England, producing hand-cooked
chips, or "crisps" as they are known in Europe.
Over the years, Kettle Foods added to its snack food offerings, with organic potato chips in 1989, tortilla chips in
1992, baked chips in 1995 and Krinkle-cut chips in 1999.
Also in 1999, Kettle Foods moved into a new headquarters facility at Salem. Part of this project restored
native vegetation and created natural ponds around the
site. The company took responsibility for maintaining
the stream and wetlands system near its facility.
Three years later, it began having its waste cooking
oil processed into biodiesel, which fuels three company
diesel VW Beetles, thus saving approximately eight tons
of CO2 emissions annually. That same year, it installed

ᮡ Part of the new plant project at Beloit will restore the native prairie on five
of the site's 12 acres.
the largest commercial solar array in the Pacific Northwest on its roof. With more than 600 panels, the array
produces 120,000 kwh of electricity per year.
Because of its efforts to improve the environmental
health of its 7-acre site in Oregon, Kettle Foods earned
Salmon-Safe certification in 2006, only the second corporate campus to achieve this award. That year as well,
the company started purchasing wind energy credits to
offset 100% of its electricity use in the US.
It also is a leader in snack processing technology. Consider Kettle brand Bakes. These are the only baked potato
chips to use fresh whole slices from real potatoes.
Kettle Foods distinguishes itself in its marketing
efforts, too. The company prints its trademarked slogan
- "A Natural Obsession" - on packaging and signs.
People's Choice, now in its fourth year, invites consumers to taste the finalists for proposed new flavors in
limited edition snack packs and vote for their favorites on
its Web site, www.kettlefoods.com. In 2006, Buffalo Bleu
and Tuscan Three Cheese tied as winners. Both flavors
were introduced in stores. The 2007 contest brought Island Jerk flavored Krinkle Cut to the fore.
Consumers today have a choice among hand-cooked
potato chips, but Kettle Foods keeps its edge in the market. "We use only the best ingredients - all natural,
nothing artificial," Mr. Fallon pointed out. "We want (the
ingredient statement on) the bag to read like a recipe:
potatoes, salt and oil, and that's all.
"Since the start of the company, we have always been
zero trans," he continued. "We have been frying in sunflower and safflower oils for 25 years now. And we are
known for our unique flavors. All this separates us from
our competitors." So does the choice of environmental
awareness that's long been part of standard operating
procedure at Kettle Foods.

November 2007 / BAKING & SNACK / 39

http://www.kettlefoods.com

Baking & Snack - November 2007

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