News | Great Lakes Potato Chipshttps://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/2024-03-19T05:52:30+00:00Latest NewsChippin’ Away With Great Lakes Potato Chip Co.2018-05-02T14:43:31+00:002024-03-19T02:26:47+00:00Jena VanWagnerhttps://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/author/jena_van@yahoo.com/https://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/chippin-away-with-great-lakes-potato-chip-co/<h1 class="entry-title fusion-post-title">Chippin’ Away With Great Lakes Potato Chip Co.</h1>
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<p>“Eddie, what happened to my blankets?” said Ed Girrbach’s mother when she noticed they were missing. Ed jokes that after he explained he’d been selling them as ponchos to his schoolmates, “mom’s reaction helped me understand at an early age about the ‘cost of goods sold.’”</p>
<p>Ponchos were Ed’s first foray into business, but the now co-founder of Great Lakes Potato Chip Company (GLPCC)—a member of Cherryland Electric Cooperative—would carry that entrepreneurial spirit his entire life, eventually leading him—along with his son and business partner, Chris Girrbach—to open Pangea’s Pizza Pub in Traverse City. Even more, it was that same spirit that inspired a growing interest in manufacturing.</p>
<p>Ultimately, deciding where they would strike out next came down to a simple question: “Dad, what do you like?” asked Chris.</p>
<p>Ed thought for a moment and replied, “Well, aside from pizza, I like potato chips.” And the idea for GLPCC was born.</p>
<p>The Girrbachs threw themselves into researching potato chips; and on May 5, 2010, they founded GLPCC with two part-time employees and one old fryer to begin manufacturing their favorite—skin-on kettle chips.</p>
<p>In the eight years since, the chip company has experienced tremendous growth and won numerous accolades, including being named “Number One Kettle Chip” by The Chicago Tribune, and “Most Investable Second-stage Food Company” at Crain’s Food Summit. They also received a “Gold” rating for kettle and tortilla chips at the Saratoga Springs Chip Festival—the birthplace of the potato chip.</p>
<p>Today, the chip company produces seven flavors of kettle chip, a tortilla chip, has 16 distributors, retails in seven states, employs 30 people, and is growing at a rate of 30 percent per year.</p>
<p>All this growth means more potatoes, and Michigan has no shortage—it’s the leading producer of chipping potatoes in the nation. The Girrbachs developed a special relationship with Sackett Farms in Mecosta—a HomeWorks Tri-County Cooperative member—to supply their potatoes. Sackett Farms is a sixth-generation, family-owned farm specializing in A-grade chipping potatoes, whose crop is in high demand.</p>
<p>“Chris’ first trip to Sackett Farms was humorous,” said Ed. “He drove 110 miles to the farm in his pickup truck with a crate in the back and had to get in line with semi-trucks to load up the potatoes. He was the only pickup in the line, and we’re thankful they let us jump in and hold up their process.”</p>
<p>Chipping away at the potato chip industry, the Girrbachs eventually sent more than a pickup truck to Sackett Farms. Now, a semi-truck delivers 120,000 pounds of potatoes a week—and they are looking for more. The chip company has invested nearly half a million dollars in automation to double its capacity to keep up with demand. With each upgrade, Ed and Chris look closely at the most energy efficient equipment as part of their commitment to sustainability, and they value their partnership with their electric cooperative.</p>
<p>Coincidentally, GLPCC and Sackett Farms belong to electric cooperatives that are members of Wolverine Power Cooperative. The Wolverine cooperatives lead Michigan in new renewable energy. In 2018, the co-ops reduced their carbon footprint by 25 percent—now providing members with 56 percent carbon-free energy. “Cherryland operates as a true partner, their whole mindset is how do they help us, and how do we work together to find more ways to be energy efficient,” said Ed. “We love doing business with them.”</p>
<p>As Great Lakes Potato Chip Company continues to grow, Ed takes great pride in his Michigan-made products, their highest-quality ingredients, and their unique process to get a crispier, crunchier, tastier chip. “We get asked a lot why we leave the skin on,” said Ed. “It’s simple. It just tastes better.”</p>
</div>Great Lakes Potato Chip Company Turns Humble Potato Into Multimillion-Dollar Business2017-06-26T14:15:18+00:002024-03-19T04:56:53+00:00Jena VanWagnerhttps://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/author/jena_van@yahoo.com/https://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/great-lakes-potato-chip-company-turns-humble-potato-into-multimillion-dollar-business/<header class="content-header">
<p class="post-meta">By <span class="contrib"><a class="author url fn" href="https://mynorth.com/author/ross-boissoneau/" rel="author" title="Posts by Ross Boissoneau">Ross Boissoneau</a></span> on <a href="https://mynorth.com/2017/06/">June 26, 2017</a><br/>Tagged <a href="https://mynorth.com/work-in-northern-michigan/northern-michigan-companies/" rel="tag">Cool Companies</a>, <a href="https://mynorth.com/northern-michigan-food-drink/" rel="tag">Food & Drink</a>, <a href="https://mynorth.com/work-in-northern-michigan/" rel="tag">Work Here</a>, <a href="https://mynorth.com/area/traverse-city-michigan/" rel="tag">Traverse City</a></p>
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<div class="r"><img alt="Great Lakes Potato Chip Company" class="attachment-mynorth-inner-featured-900 size-mynorth-inner-featured-900 wp-post-image" height="473" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" src="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Potato-Chip-Company-_-planting-potatoes-900x473.jpg" srcset="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Potato-Chip-Company-_-planting-potatoes-900x473.jpg 900w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Potato-Chip-Company-_-planting-potatoes-600x315.jpg 600w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Potato-Chip-Company-_-planting-potatoes-480x252.jpg 480w" width="900"/><span class="image-credit">Photo(s) by Great Lakes Potato Chip Company</span><span class="image-caption">Planting potatoes </span></div>
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<p>Ed Girrbach has had several careers: Pilot. Airplane sales and marketing executive. Financial advisor. Restaurateur. And for the last five years, potato chip impresario.</p>
<p>Girrbach and his son Chris are the co-owners of <a href="http://greatlakespotatochips.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Great Lakes Potato Chip Company</a>. The company has managed to thrive as a regional purveyor of salty, crispy slices of Michigan-grown potatoes. Quite a stretch from six years ago, when the Girrbachs pulled into line alongside several semis to get a load of potatoes in their pickup truck.</p>
<p><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-314826 alignleft" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300.png" srcset="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300.png 300w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300-150x150.png 150w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300-32x32.png 32w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300-50x50.png 50w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300-64x64.png 64w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300-96x96.png 96w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Original-Potato-Chips-300x300-128x128.png 128w" width="300"/>That 1,500 pounds of potatoes turned into the first bags of Great Lakes Potato Chips. Today the company produces seven flavors of kettle-cooked potato chips as well as some seasonal flavors, two kinds of tortilla chips, and two different salsas. Girrbach says this year he expects sales between $3.5 and 4 million, with next year increasing by another $1 million. He’s hopeful that in five years it will be in the $10–12 million range.</p>
<p>That’s pretty impressive, especially in light of the casual conversation that started the company. Ed and Chris opened Pangea’s Pizza in downtown Traverse City and were looking to expand into retail. Their first thought, naturally enough, was to move into the frozen pizza market, but looking into both production and how difficult it would be to secure freezer space in supermarkets, they decided that wasn’t the way to go. That led to the following exchange: “Chris asked, ‘Dad, what else do you like?’ I said, ‘Potato chips.’ He said, ‘Lets do it,’” recounts Girrbach.</p>
<p>That’s how they found themselves sitting in their pickup truck alongside the big boys, waiting their turn. Since then, Great Lakes Potato Chips has experienced remarkable growth, adding equipment—yes, including bigger trucks—and personnel. Today the company employs 30 people at its facility at 6806 E. Traverse Hwy. It has become so successful the Girrbachs eventually sold their restaurant to stake their future on chips.</p>
<p><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-314824 alignright" height="300" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300.png" srcset="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300.png 300w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300-150x150.png 150w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300-32x32.png 32w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300-50x50.png 50w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300-64x64.png 64w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300-96x96.png 96w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Great-Lakes-Tortilla-Chips-300x300-128x128.png 128w" width="300"/>The company distributes throughout the region, including Canada. While the brand based its appeal primarily to those who call the Great Lakes region home, one of its bigger (and growing) markets is Florida. After all, explains Girrbach, “It’s like a Great Lake state in winter.”</p>
<p>And the company is poised for still bigger and better things. “We see a lot more potential for growth,” says Girrbach. The company is looking ahead to markets in the Caribbean, South America and China. “There’s no limit to opportunity. This is a really pivotal year for us.”</p>
<p>This next year will see the company invest another $1.5 million in equipment, which Girrbach says will increase its capacity by 150 percent. “We’ve had rapid growth, but we’re being really careful,” says Girrbach. “Growth can outstrip capacity. The world is awash in opportunity. We want to make sure we don’t drown in it.”</p>
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_314825" style="width: 310px;"><img alt="" class="wp-image-314825" height="286" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" src="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Ed-and-Chris.jpg" srcset="https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Ed-and-Chris.jpg 314w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Ed-and-Chris-300x286.jpg 300w, https://mynorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Ed-and-Chris-32x32.jpg 32w" width="300"/>
<p class="wp-caption-text">Ed and Chris Girrbach</p>
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<p>In addition to consumer success, the company continues to receive accolades. Great Lakes Potato Chip Company was named one of the “Top 50 Michigan Companies to Watch” in 2014, and the following year the chips were voted the #1 Kettle Chip in the Country by the <em>Chicago Tribune</em>. The chips received two Gold Ribbon awards for best Kettle Chip and best Tortilla Chip at the 2016 Saratoga Springs New York National Chip Festival. Great Lakes Potato Chips was also awarded the first place Growth Award at the Crain’s Business 2016 Annual Food Summit in Detroit.</p>
<p>The company both exemplifies and adds to the success of the “buy local” focus of the market. By focusing its efforts regionally, Great Lakes Potato Chips has been able to build consumer awareness of its brand. It also helps the state maintain its agricultural success, purchasing nearly all its potatoes from Sackett Potatoes in Mecosta County. “Michigan is number one in the country in chipping potatoes, and number five overall,” says Girrbach. Thanks, in part, to Great Lakes Potato Chips.</p>
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<p></p>Great Lakes Potato Chips Voted Best Kettle Chips2016-08-12T15:43:10+00:002024-03-19T05:52:30+00:00Jena VanWagnerhttps://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/author/jena_van@yahoo.com/https://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/great-lakes-potato-chips-voted-best-kettle-chips/<p><strong>Great Lakes Potato Chip Company Wins Awards</strong></p>
<p>Traverse City – Great Lakes Potato Chip Company is thrilled to announce they are winners at the Chip Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York. The company took home two gold medals in the Best Kettle Chip and Best Tortilla Chip categories.</p>
<p> In its inaugural year, The Chip Festival welcomed chip lovers and vendors to sample snacks and talk to chip makers. Saratoga Springs is the unofficial birthplace of the potato chip.</p>
<p> “It was a really great festival,” said Ed Girrbach, co-owner of Great Lakes Potato Chips. “We did not know what to expect the first year, but there were so many people in attendance.”</p>
<p> Since Great Lakes Potato Chips are not currently sold in New York state, the company is looking forward to a boost in their on-line chip sales following the festival and plans on attending again in 2017.</p>
<p> A 2014 recipient of the “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch” by Michigan Celebrates Small Business, Great Lakes Potato Chips has also been awarded best kettle chip by the Chicago Tribune.</p>
<p> Find Great Lakes Potato Chip Company on line at www.greatlakespotatochips.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GreatLakesChips.</p>Great Lakes Potato Chip Company Celebrates Five Years2015-06-01T15:47:39+00:002024-03-19T04:01:15+00:00Jena VanWagnerhttps://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/author/jena_van@yahoo.com/https://greatlakespotatochips.com/news/great-lakes-potato-chip-company-celebrates-five-years/<p>Traverse City – Great Lakes Potato Chip Company has come a long way in the last five years. In 2000, Ed Girrbach and his son Chris pulled their Dodge pick-up truck into line behind four semi-tractors to get their first load of Michigan potatoes. That first load held about 1,500 pounds of potatoes – enough for 600 bags of chips.</p>
<p> “It was an exciting time,” said Ed. “We drove that one crate of fresh harvested potatoes 110 miles back to Traverse City and turned them into the first hand-crafted kettle chips for our company.”</p>
<p> Like most small businesses, sales began with Ed and Chris driving to local retailers to share their new product. Response was very positive and soon sales spread throughout the state. Great Lakes Chips were also a hit on the snack trade show circuit, exposing them to buyers big and small around the Great Lakes region.</p>
<p> “In the second year we added our 16 foot box truck and a second refurbished kettle fryer,” said Chris. “We faced rapidly growing demand for all three of the flavors being produced: Original, Barbeque and Sea Salt and Vinegar.”</p>
<p> As demand increased over the next two years, a larger delivery truck and fourth flavor (Sea Salt Pepper & Onion) were added. A major expansion to the production facility increased the number of employees to 13.</p>
<p> Great Lakes Potato Chip Company was honored in 2014 by being selected one of the “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch” by Michigan Celebrates Small Business. This award is presented to companies known for their exceptional entrepreneurial leadership, creation of innovation or use of innovation in creative ways, and their sustainable competitive advantage.</p>
<p> Ed commented on the award, “This was such an honor for us. We started our company with one clear goal: to make a chip worthy of the hardy, fresh spirit of the Great Lakes region and its people. To think that our snack food is now an ambassador for our region is amazing.”</p>
<p> Today, the company offers five permanent flavors of the kettle cooked, skin-on potato chips, two flavors of tortilla chips, two flavors of salsa and four seasonal potato chips. A new production line that will double capacity is in the works and employee count is expected to hit 25 this year. They continue to keep their brand promise of “A great tasting chip in every bag, every time.” All products are produced as simply and naturally as possible, allowing for customers to “Snack Happy” with quality gluten free offerings.</p>
<p> There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon for Great Lakes Potato Chips, with both pretzels and popcorn on the drawing board.</p>
<p> Find Great Lakes Potato Chip Company on line at www.greatlakespotatochips.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GreatLakesChips.</p>