I met Kettle Brand at Food Fete, a food industry event wherein they launched two new flavors of Kettle Brand chips, maple bacon and sweet and salty.
Their description of maple bacon: "Maple Bacon combines the deep smokiness of bacon, the rich sweetness of real maple syrup and the subtle spice of chili pepper for a truly iconic comfort food combination." I found the flavors diffuse and unclear – I tasted sweet and smoke but my tastebuds weren’t tickled by either in this combination.
The sweet and salty is described thus: “Sweet & Salty strikes the perfect balance by pairing natural sea salt and cane sugar with golden, crunchy potatoes to create a fresh, buttery sweetness capable of satisfying salty cravings and sweet tooths alike” I liked this flavor slightly better, but sweet on a potato chip didn’t really appeal to me.
The potato chips themselves were large, crispy, not overly salty or greasy - just these two flavors were "meh" for me.
However, Kettle Brand gets a big thumbs up for their clear allergen policies. As stated on their Kettle Brand website under the FAQ:
Are your products safe to eat for people with peanut allergies?
All Kettle Brand ® Potato Chips and Kettle Brand ®TIAS!™ are processed in an environment free of peanuts and other nuts. We consider them to be safe for people with peanut allergies to enjoy.
Kettle Brand® Nut Butters and Kettle Brand ® Quality Handcrafted Nuts are made in a separate facility from our various chip brands. All nut products share roasting and grinding lines with peanuts, and we include the following statement on the packaging: "Processed on equipment shared with peanuts and other nuts."
Brand transparency, careful food handling and good manufacturing processes are excellent to have and what I look for in a food manufacturer.
So these flavors didn’t thrill me, but how Kettle Brand created them does.
Thank you Kettle Brand, I'll be back to try something else!