About Kettle Foods UK

1. About Kettle Foods UK
Our story so far

2. 1853
Long ago, before the days of KETTLE® Chips, the very first potato
chips were created in Saratoga Springs, New York, by Moon Lake
House chef George Crum. Frustrated by a customer rejecting his fries
for being “too thick”,the chef reacted by frying paper-thin slices of
potato to make them impossible to eat with a fork. To Crum’s
surprise, the customer was delighted with his accidental invention
and word of this delicious new discovery soon spread.

3. 1978
Cameron Healy founded Kettle Foods in Salem, Oregon, USA with the
aim of providing high quality, naturally sourced products. Starting
with nothing more than an old van and a vision to make great tasting
less processed foods, Cameron took to the road selling cheese and
roasted nuts to natural food stores.

4. Kettle Foods was ticking over nicely, but it was the moment Cameron
first sampled the delights of homemade potato chips on a Hawaiian
beach, that changed everything. Once home he immediately began
experimenting with traditional chip production methods. It took a
while to perfect the process but soon KETTLE® Chips was born.
1982

5. 1987
While on a six week motorcycle adventure through Europe, Cameron
and his son discovered the British love of crisps, prompting him to
establish Kettle Foods in the UK.

6. 1988
Kettle Foods is launched! We chose Norfolk as our home in order to be
as close as possible to many of our potato growers. Our first home
was actually the corner of an old converted shoe factory in Norwich,
... and so from humble beginnings the first KETTLE® Chips were
produced in the UK.

7. 1989
While dining at Norfolk Broads restaurant Bennigan's, Cameron Healy
got talking to owner and chef Chris Barnard and in him recognised a
true passion for authentic foods and ingredients. Sharing Cameron's
vision, Chris soon packed up his utensils and recipe books to join us in
setting up the UK branch of Kettle Foods.
Ever since then Chris has put his considerable talents and experience
into coming up with all our recipes, as well as painstakingly sourcing
every last ingredient.

8. 1993
With sales of KETTLE® Chips on the rise we bid farewell to our initial
home, settling into our own factory on the outskirts of Norwich,
where you can still find us to this day.

9. 1997
The launch of one of our seasoning mainstays - the now classic Sea
Salt & Balsamic Vinegar . It wasn't easy - the search for the
perfect ingredients took us far and wide across Europe, but we're
sure you'll agree it was worth it!

10. 1998
Christmas saw the launch of the first ever KETTLE® Chips Seasonal
Edition, Blue Stilton & Port. Only in shops from October to December, this
new seasoning was an instant hit and is still fondly remembered by
KETTLE® Chip devotees.

11. 1999
Spurred on by the success of Blue Stilton & Port, we decided to make
seasonal editions a regular thing, launching New Season Potatoes with
Butter & Mint in the summer of 1999. This was followed by the welcome
return of Blue Stilton & Port in time for Christmas, which also netted us a
Gold in the Great Taste Awards.

12. 2003
The KETTLE® Chips range extended beyond purely potatoes, with the
introduction of Golden Parsnips Chips and Sweet Potato Chips. As with our
potatoes, we’ve gone to great lengths to select vegetable varieties that
offer the finest taste and texture.

13. 2005
A busy year. It didn't start well, with a fire causing serious damage to the
factory, but thanks to the dedication and determination of our staff we
were up and running after only a week.
Staff then set out to spread the word of our phoenix-like rebirth in the
most fitting way we could think of - in tribute to our founder we hit the
UK highways in a camper van led convoy, giving out free samples to
anyone we met.
We also rebranded all KETTLE® Chips packaging for the first time in our 16
year history, to reinforce our position as the UK's first and foremost hand-
cooked chip.

14. 2006
Having established a strong and lasting legacy in the KETTLE® Chips
brand, our original founders decided it was time to move on to pastures
new. Our new owners recognised that consumers would increasingly care
about the products they eat and where the ingredients had come from. To
this day we have continued to operate with these same principles and a
passion for making simple great tasting chips.

15. 2008
A landmark year. Not only were we the 6th fastest growing grocery brand
in the UK, but were also identified as one of the country's Top 100
Grocery Brands (source: The Grocer). We were also fortunate to be
acknowledged with a Gold Award in the Food & Drink Federation
Community Partnership Awards. This meant a lot to our staff.

16. 2009
It was the 21st birthday of Kettle Foods Ltd UK!
Other good news for the year included the announcement that KETTLE®
Chips made it on to the prestigious CoolBrands list for 2009/10, as voted
for by an expert council (including journalist Damian Barr and fashion
designer Ben de Lisi) and 2,458 members of the public.

17. 2010
We wanted to share our latest news with you as we have recently been
acquired by Diamond Foods from the US. Diamond manufacture and sell
culinary nuts and snacks, if you have ever visited the US you may have
even seen some of their brands: Emerald® snack nuts and Pop Secret®
microwave popcorn.
We are really excited about our future with Diamond as we share the
same passion
for making great tasting, quality products.

18. 2011
In 2011 we ran an advertising campaign in the national quality press to
reinforce KETTLE® Chips' brand status as The hand-cooked chip. The
advertising showed ingredients illustrated by hand prints.
An innovative partnership with Lovefilm.com also ran through the year
to promote our new KETTLE® Ridge Crisps as the perfect snack for a
movie night in. In addition we worked with Ben Collins (ex-The Stig) in
the specifically created "Wallop to London Dodgem Derby" where four
purple dodgem cars raced in a contest of skill to bring to life the
product proposition of 'Ridged for extra wallop!

19. 2012
In 2012 we celebrated KETTLE® Chips' 30th Birthday by re-introducing
Sea Salt, Rosemary & Garlic and Blue Stilton & Port for a limited period
– these are two of our classic seasonings which came out top in a
consumer online poll.
In addition, we launched a new range of KETTLE® Tortilla Chips – 4
great tasting products made without the use of artificial ingredients to
deliver a true taste of Mexico to enjoy at home. And we were proud to
be the only premium snack named as a 2012 Superbrand.

20. 2013
2013 was another busy year… we launched a new packaging design for
KETTLE® Chips which re-introduced an illustration of a man hand
cooking, conveying the care and attention that goes into making every
bag. This was supported by press advertising, hand-crafted by
embroidery artist Lou Gardiner, to reinforce the authentic and
traditional nature of our products, and a PR campaign involving Kirstie
Allsopp.
In November, we set 10 authentic craftspeople from across the UK,
including KETTLE® Head Chef Chris Barnard, the challenge to create
handmade items that would combine to create a beautifully crafted
dinner table – from the table itself, to the benches, the knife and the
cheese board. The catch? The craftspeople had only 12 hours to produce
their item, and with the process documented on camera to create our
new #LovinglyCrafted TV ad.

21. 2014
2014 has already got off to an exciting start at KETTLE® HQ. In January
we launched our new KETTLE® Baked Chips handy packs, deliciously
oven baked Chips with all the flavour you would expect but with less
than 100 calories per pack.
New KETTLE® Chips Sea Salt with a Hint of Citrus Lemon and Sea Salt
with a Hint of Rosemary have also hit stores, perfect for consumers
looking for a more subtle flavour hit.
March saw the launch of our new seasonal edition Lime & Black Pepper,
ideal for the barbecue and picnic season this Summer, and our new
Baked Sweet Potato range, a deliciously crisp alternative to regular
crisps with 50% less fat than fried vegetable crisps.