MANSFIELD, Ohio — The requirement to change one of its key ingredients could ruin a company– but not in the case of Jones’ Potato Chips.
Changing their 70-year-old recipe hasn’t devastated them. In fact, thanks to a willingness to experiment, they’re growing.
Innovation seems to be as natural to the Joneses as the potatoes that go into their product. And today, when technology, laws, or customer demand press changes on companies, the ability to adapt is critical.
Jones’ Potato Chip Co. shared the change with their fans on Facebook Oct. 29. In the post they wrote, “To our loyal fans, near and far: Per FDA requirements, the Jones’ Potato Chip Company will transition away from the partially hydrogenated soybean oil that we have used for our traditional wavy potato chips since 1945.”
The Food & Drug Administration announcement on June 16, 2015 stated that partially hydrogenated cooking oil is not Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) and therefore Jones’ needed to change their recipe. However, the company had already begun using corn oil in some of its products and labeling new chip bags with “0 grams trans fats.”
The FDA ruling includes a three-year compliance provision which has given the company time to phase in new products. Bob Jones doesn’t think it will take that long.
“We’ve actually had a 0 trans fats product in the marketplace since 2007,” Jones’ President Bob Jones said. “There’s a large segment of people that prefer the taste of those potato chips. There’s also customers that grew up with the original flavor and prefer that.”
The FDA has been discussing and studying trans fats for many years before they made the final ruling in June to discontinue trans fats from food production.
Jones’ Potato Chip Company was listening and already making the transition.
New product, new oils
And what is their newest product?
“The main adaptation for us was around 2007, we had two companies contact us in the same week asking if we could make potato sticks. One of them was the New York account and one was the Florida account. Their potato stick supplier had gone out of business and they were looking for someone to make them,” said Jones.
“There aren’t that many companies that make them and we didn’t know if we could either.”
Within two week, Jones’ Potato Chip Company was producing potato sticks.
“Potato sticks are half of our production. The more potato sticks we sell, the more companies and consumers become aware of us and it often leads to more potato chip business,” Jones stated.
Why?
“Number one, we make a very good potato stick,” he said. “There’s not very many companies that make them. The market for it is not as large so there’s not as much competition; and potato stick typically come in canisters and we put them in snack bags. It’s a better value so we’re presenting a very high quality product at competitive pricing.”
We didn’t know if we could make potato sticks and it was right before the holidays in 2007. So there was a guy who was far enough away from here who made sticks who was willing to talk to me because we probably weren’t going to be competitors and he have me some advice.
“Potato chip conveyors usually have larger holes in them; that way crumbs fall out. Potato sticks are more like matchstick shaped and those would fall right through. So the main think was to use conveyors that needed to be a mesh,” said Jones.
They also needed some other equipment. The new buyers were anxious for product—and it was the holidays—and the test was ready.
“In our first test, I think we ran 4,000 pounds of potatoes through and ended up with maybe 100 pounds of good ones. We were really concerned. We shipped them off to the customers and they said the potato sticks were OK,” Jones said. Mission accomplished.
Distribution growth
Now, 75 percent of their production is in corn oil, the 0 trans fats cooking oils, and it’s still growing.
“We produce for a kosher company in Brooklyn, New York. We have about 90 production days a year for that company. It’s in their brand; it’s an original chip which is flat and a ripple-style and potato sticks. Their brand is called Blooms.”
They also make chips for a company in Detroit, Michigan that purchases two to four semi-loads a month; and three to four trailer-loads of potato sticks go to Miami, Florida every month. Jones’ also began a project in Puerto Rico in the last year sending pound bags of Jones’ Potato sticks to Puerto Rico.
Other U.S. states they sell to include Kentucky, Indiana, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee, and some in Georgia.
But we’ve had business opportunities, and most of those new opportunities required a different kind of cooking oil: corn oil, cottonseed oil, canola oil.”
Experimentation
“We’re open to testing: we’re open to trying new things. We have a customer that wants us to cook in avocado oil for them which has a very normal taste,” Jones said.
”I thought it would have an unusual taste but avocado oil potato chips, there’s only a couple companies in the country making those. Then there’s another company that wants us to cook russet potatoes and those make a brown potato chip—you know the kind that most people don’t want? This is going to be a bag of nothing but brown potato chips. Very, very unique. And in both of those instances we’ll leave the skin on; we won’t feel the skin off. And they both also want sea salt.”
Jones said soon the company will make a dill flavored chip for one of their customers and will be eventually move into the Jones line too.
Jones fans can find the new flavors, the potato sticks, and original and 0 trans fat chips at the company store at 823 Bowman St., Mansfield–That’s where they moved in 2009 to keep up with business growth.
It starts with a good potato.
Jones’ use 12 million pounds of potatoes a year. They come in 50,000 pounds in a trailer and they average delivery of five trailer loads a week. Most of the potatoes come from the same farms the company has worked with for years.
The potatoes are shipped, starting with the first fresh ones of the year, from come from Florida for about a month, into May and June. Then they come from Missouri and North Carolina for about a month, then Indiana. And then the Ohio and Michigan ones are ready in mid-August. The ones that are raised in Ohio from mid-August till the end of the year and from Michigan all the way out till the next May.
Then there’s the right oil, seasoning, cut, and process speed.
“There’s a learning curve to it. It’s not the same as making potato chips, but that was really the beginning of our company growing. Speed, heat, how much you put in, how fast you put it in, how long you leave it in, how hot the oils,” Jones said.
Making chips since 1945, it is still very much a family company. Started by Frederick W. Jones, frying the chips in a kettle, his son Bob Jones is now the president. Bob Jones’ brother Darryl is the vice president and his wife Regina serves as secretary treasurer. Nephew Larry Greer also works at the company.
“It takes a lot of good people putting in hard work and doing a great job to make all of this happen,” Bob Jones said.
