Kettle Foods, Inc. is an American manufacturer of potato chips, based in Salem, Oregon, United States, with a European and Middle East headquarters in Norwich, United Kingdom. As of 2006 they were the largest natural potato chip brand in the U.S.[1]
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 from 2010 to 2016. In February 2016, Snyder's-Lance finalized their purchase of Diamond Foods.[2] Snyder's-Lance (and their Kettle Foods division) was purchased by Camden, New Jersey–based Campbell Soup Company in March 2018.[3]
History
The company was founded by Cameron Healy in 1978 as the "N.S. Khalsa Company"; it produced its first potato chips in 1982.[4]
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 Norwich, Norfolk, England; the branch moved five years later to its current UK home, a newly built factory on the outskirts of Norwich.[5]
In 2003, the company installed the largest solar array in the Pacific Northwest with the goal of using more green energy at their Salem plant.[6][7]
In September 2007, the company opened its second US production facility in Beloit, Wisconsin, after receiving $500,000 in state economic development money.[9] Kettle built the first manufacturing plant to be awarded gold certification in the LEED program from the United States Green Building Council.[9]
In October 2007, campaigns were launched on Facebook calling for a boycott of Kettle Foods products[10] following allegations that the company was attempting to dissuade workers at its Norwich factory from joining the Unite trade union. The company denied the claim but acknowledged that it had taken advice from Omega Training,[11] a UK subsidiary of the U.S. company The Burke Group, specialists in union avoidance.[12]
Lion Capital put Kettle Foods up for sale in December 2009, with an asking price of around US$700 million[8] and in February 2010 sold it for $615 million to California-based Diamond Foods, which owns brands such as Pop Secret popcorn.[15] The sale was finalized the following month.[16]
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.[17]
Kettle Foods products, marketed as all-natural, is best-known for its potato chips.[18] Their potato chips are fried using expeller-pressed high-monounsaturatedsafflower and/or sunflower and/or canola oil. 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".[19]
^"Atty. Gen. Brown Settles Potato Chip Lawsuit With Heinz, Frito-Lay & Kettle Foods". Press Release. State of California. August 1, 2008. Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2011. Under today's settlements, Frito-Lay, Inc., which sells most of the potato chips sold in California, Kettle Foods, Inc., maker of "Kettle Chips," and Lance, Inc., maker of Cape Cod Chips will reduce acrylamide over a period of three years to 275 parts per billion. For Frito Lay, this is about a 20% reduction, while for Kettle Chips, which contain far more acrylamide, this is an 87% reduction in acrylamide.
^Lazarus, David (August 6, 2008). "A stone wall made of potato chips". Consumer Confidential. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 13, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
