'It's people, product and process'

ZANESVILLE — It was a dreary weekday afternoon on the city's east side, but it didn't stop eager customers from filing into the front door at Conn's Potato Chip Company to get their fill.

Most left with a special edition tin, commemorating the business' 85th anniversary, packed with freshly-made chips that were mere minutes out of the fryer. On this day, it was the original regular flavor recipe the company has used since its inception.

It was another example of how the more things change at East Central Ohio's most present chip company, the more things have stayed the same.

"Our employees are all local and it really is a staple here locally," said President John George, who co-owns the company with his brother, Tommy, who serves as vice president.

"Look how many people come in to buy chips to drive them to their in-laws, or whatever," John added. "Someone is taking them out of state every day to someone that relocated from here. Ninety percent of our mail-in business is from people who have relocated and want to order our product. It's still a staple because so many of us grew up with it."

Despite social media rumors suggesting the contrary, the business remains steady and is actually growing, Tommy said.

"Somebody came in one day and there were no vehicles in the parking lot," George said. "We were closed. We were up in the office, but they said (on social media) ‘Conn's is closed and moved out. Nobody is there.’ It's January, February and March, our slowest three months of the year. There are days we don't run, but we are still here to a certain extent.

"We’re still open and we’re not going anywhere," George said. "This isn't new. This is what we have been doing for 20 years since we've been here."

The business remains a fully local-owned operation, despite luring attempts from larger companies in the past. The brothers took over the company in an official capacity in 2019 from her mother, Lois George, and Monty Hunter, who bought the business from Richard Downing in 2001.

The company, which has maintained the same chip recipe since its inception in its former facility on Nancy Avenue, now distributes into 25 Ohio counties in Central and East-Central Ohio.

The only change has been in cooking oil — they now use high oleic soybean oil, due to the Food and Drug Administration's crackdown on trans fats in 2014. Outside of some changes to the potato bags — and new one designed by XGS Graphics is dropping later this year — everything has stayed status quo.

Conn's employs 74 employees between its plant on Kemper Court in Zanesville, its distribution facilities in Columbus and Lancaster and its delivery and merchandising personnel.

It processes a minimum of 50,000 pounds of potatoes per day, John said, which are purchased from growers throughout the country depending on the season.

"From 20 years ago when I came until today we're still doing things the same way with the same exact equipment," John said. "We've overhauled some equipment (like slicers and fryers) but the process is identical."

In addition to their own products, they also produce chips for Grippo's, based in Cincinnati. John said they have sent five semi truck loads per week of Grippo's for delivery for five years.

"In the busy seasons we will easily do a quarter-million pounds per week," John said.

Shortages in staffing and inflation-related cost increases have made for some frustrating times, and the company hasn't been immune to the rising costs of doing business.

Cooking oil costs have risen 75% since 2020 — canola oil is up 300% — and corrugated cardboard, used to make the shipping boxes, is up 24% and still rising. Fuel costs have doubled. Film for the chip bags is up 65%.

The plant uses approximately 800 gallons — approximately $6,000 worth — of hi-oleic soybean oil per day.

"It's a challenge every day," John said. "Some days we have to slow production down because of the socioeconomic conditions in the country. It's very common in the industry. The people that supply us, we talk to those owners and we hear the same stuff all the time. You've got owners out there late at night moving product because they can't get enough workers. That's the culture in the country right now and I don't see it changing."

Conn's can relate.

"We have three fryers, but we haven't been able to run three fryers since last year because we don't have any employees to do it," Tommy said. "But based on what we've been hearing, we're doing better than most of our competition and our partners. We've struggled less than them, but we've still struggled."

Tommy thanked his family's employees. Two employees have retired in the last year with a combined 90 years of experience.

"And we treat our employees like family," Tommy said. "We have some people who have been out there for years and that's a good thing."

Despite the challenges, the brothers remain bullish on the company's future.

They are currently hiring inside the Zanesville plant and have seen growth in distribution in the Akron-Canton-Cleveland region, which it entered in 2019. It's something Tommy said is due largely to strong relationship with grocery stores in that area.

"Before 2019 we weren't in Akron-Canton-Cleveland at all and we're going all the way to Lake Erie now," Tommy said. "We're not everywhere we want to be, but in this industry it's not easy to get into these places."

They currently have eight different chip flavors — with two more to hit the market by fall — and recently introduced twisted cheese puffs, formerly made by Dan Dee. They also sell corn chips, pretzels, beef jerkey and beef sticks, among other items.

The wavy original chips remain the most popular item, with the sweet mesquite barbeque growing rapidly.

"It's people, product and process," John said. "And we will put our stuff up against anybody."

[email protected]

740-450-6723

Twitter: @SamBlackburn