CALDWELL, Idaho — "It's taken us eight years to get here."
Founder Kyle Nehring's dream started in his basement, making potato chips with his wife and brother.
"And I had this idea of an Idaho potato chip, but I knew nothing about manufacturing and nothing about potato chips. I really knew very little even about business. And so it was hard to get going. However, that seed was planted long, long ago. And after working in the industry a little bit, we decided to go for it," Nehring said.
Click here to see more of the facility and the making of potato chips:
They grew from a small Nampa location to a new 14,000-square-foot facility in Caldwell.
"The Nampa one, I personally put together. It wasn't engineered, I mean. It was done correctly, but it was a small step. This has been a huge step for us. Really exciting about the future potential of the brand and for all we can do," Nehring said.
But it's a process getting from potato to chip.
I asked, "Why Caldwell?"
"Yeah, we love Treasure Valley. Looking at real estate, looking at people, and trying to really define the right kind of salt-of-the-earth type of people to help make potato chips. Caldwell is just a very natural fit. We love the community," Nehring said.
Nehring says there's a real significance behind the name — proudly serving up real Idaho potatoes and partnering with Idaho farmers.
"We have to have the best potatoes. That's why we're here in Idaho. And not only that, we've partnered with one of the best farmers in the state. I mean, it's five generations deep. They've been growing potatoes for over 100 years. It's Cranny Farms. And we love those guys. And not only that, they're actually invested in the company. And so they want to see the success of our company," Nehring said.
"They grow into potatoes, the seed potatoes. And to take it all the way through the manufacturing process. And then we do a lot of our own distribution. And so we even get it onto the shelves in the stores. I mean, really, it's from farm to table the whole way," Nehring said.
They're also partnering with Boise-based Snake River Farms, using the tallow from their American Wagyu beef in their potato products.
"What's so cool is it's two fantastic Idaho companies coming together. One that's been around for a long time and us that are just kind of up and coming and just working together. We actually haven't even raised a single dollar outside of the state. So all of our funding has come from Idaho," Nehring said.
Is the goal also to show other states what Idaho has to offer?
"Yeah. So that actually is the whole purpose of the company, right? If you are saying, 'hey, welcome to our state,' it's one thing to hand them a potato and say, 'welcome,' but you can hand them a potato chip and say, 'this represents Idaho. This is something really special to us,'" Nehring said.
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