A century-old brand is new again

Ballreich's is celebrating its 100th anniversary this week by introducing three new flavors of potato chips. While the owners of Ballreich's Snack Food Co. can look back on only one year of running the company, the 20 investors who purchased Ballreich's in spring 2019 thought the local brand and tradition was well worth saving and leading into its second century. "We all grew up on the potato chip," said President and CEO Steve Dandurand. "We don't really manufacture potato chips, we create traditions," he said. "When you talk to people about Ballreich's they always have this emotional story attached to our potato chips. The company really needed to be recapitalized. It's a great brand and none of us really wanted to see it just go away." He said the investors from Northwest Ohio — Tiffin, Fostoria, New Riegel, Findlay, Toledo and a few other places — decided to retain Ballreich's long tradition of being locally owned. A 100th-anniversary community celebration had been planned for this summer, but has been postponed because of the pandemic until this fall - or possibly next year. During the past year, Dandurand said Ballreich's has worked to update the manufacturing process at the plant at 186 Ohio Ave. and put measures in place to maintain product consistency. "We continue to put money into the company," he said. "We've bought some major new equipment in the last year." He said the owners have invested in a quality lab. "That's relatively new to the 100-year-old company," he said. The goal is to duplicate the same quality of potato chip — and other products — over and over. "In the last year, we've spent some time in that area," Dandurand said. "I wouldn't say we're perfect, but I certainly would say we're making great strides in the right direction." There also are new scales for weighing and new facking equipment — which takes the finished product from the conveyor and puts it into bags. Other machinery also has been replaced and some added to achieve consistency with slicing potatoes. "There's more technical aspects to making a good chip than you might think when you open a bag," Dandurand said. "Me, personally, I've learned more about the chemistry of oil and the chemistry of potato chips than I ever wanted to know. It goes back to that whole quality side of things." Also important to product quality is the team of 60 dedicated employees, he said. "The team we have here came with the purchase," he said. "We have some really outstanding people who work here. They know a lot and are dedicated to the Ballreich brand. Whether they work in the plant, drive trucks or do any of the other jobs required to operate the business, he said it's great to have good people. "That's one of the nice things we learned," he said. "They're a pretty dedicated, loyal group of people." Now that they've had a year to make improvements and work on consistency, Dandurand said more changes will be coming in the future. "We want to continue to grow the company," he said. "We need to grow it." The addition of the new flavors is part of growing the brand, he said, and another aspect of growth is making snack foods for other companies. He said the plant operates one shift now, but has the capability of expanding its work force. As a start, he said Ballreich's is going to be making potato sticks for a company in New York. History It's quite likely Fred and Ethel Ballreich weren't thinking about making products for other companies, but they were apparently thinking about how to keep up with demand for their homemade potato chips in 1920. They worked in their garage with dirt floor using a copper kettle heated by wood. "It was an all-day process that produced only 14 pounds of potato chips," according to the company history on the Ballreich's website. They described their wavy chips "marcelled" after a popular hair style of the time. As Fred and Ethel's venture grew, they invited Fred's brother, Carl, and his wife, Emma, to join the company. Carl left his job as a supervisor at the Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, to return to Tiffin to make potato chips. The brothers created the joint venture, Ballreich Brothers Potato Chips, combining their talents in sales, management and potato chip-making. Emma and Ethel worked with their husbands peeling, sacking and packing. The two couples lives side by side at 180 and 186 Ohio Ave. Later in 1920, the brothers built a small factory behind their homes and installed its first slicer. "Local farmers would deliver 100-pound burlap bags of potatoes to Carl and Emma's basement for storage," the website history says. "Many weekend family outings included visiting with local farmers to check on their potato crop." After World War II, Fred's sons, Doyle and Nevin, along with Carl's sons, Owen and Don, and his son-in-law, Robert Reis (who married Carl's daughter Phyllis), joined the business. At that time, it was incorporated as Ballreich Bros. Inc., and expanded to a larger facility in the same location. As time went on, sacking machines were added, a warehouse was built in Defiance, and equipment was added such as an automatic slicer, salter, hopper filler and automatic kettle. Liquid shortening was introduced replacing the previous solid form. In the 1960s, a hydraulic lift was added to the exterior of the plant and an additional warehouse was built onto the building for storage. Equipment upgrades continued, and the process of heat-sealing bags began to better preserve freshness and speed up the process. "A new cooker, slicer, peeler washer and sacking machine were installed," the website says. "These and other new equipment allowed chip production to reach 2,000 pounds of potato chips per hour. That's 8,000 pounds of potatoes and 1,000 pounds of hydrogenated soybean oil each hour!" A truck auto-loading dock as added in the 1980s, and the 1990s brought new potato chip flavors as well as the addition of other snacks such as party mix, pretzel sticks, pretzel rings, pretzel rods, pork rinds, tortilla chips, cheese popcorn, caramel popcorn with nuts and triple mix popcorn. The 21st century meant new data innovations, new software, handheld computers for sales representatives and growth in the sales and marketing departments, and expansion of the marketing area. In 2006, Carl's grandson, Brian Reis, and his wife, Linda, became sole owners of Ballreich's after purchasing the shares of 16 family shareholders of the company. In 2007, Carl's great-granddaughter, Haley, daughter of the owners, joined the family business, beginning the fourth generation. Markets continued to expand into Ohio State University campus dining and other spots in the Columbus area. Holiday baskets were first made available and new products were added. In 2008, Ballreich's delivery trucks were given a new look, and Ballreich's chips were seen in the movie, "Street Kings" with Keanu Reeves as well as on Rachael Ray's cooking show and on The View with Whoopi Goldberg. In 2009, Ballreich's entered the Chicago market and entered the world of social media, and in 2010, the company was awarded the Small Business Administration Family-Owned Business of the Year (Cleveland District) Award. In 2011, Carl's great-grandson, Robert Reis, joined Ballreich's as full-time process manager and engineer after working part time in high school and college. In 2014, potato sticks were launched, and Ballreich's was selected as the Snack Manufacturer of the Year by the Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery association. The company also selected as outstanding business of the year by Seneca Industrial and Economic Development Corp. (now Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership) for its demonstration of leadership in its field, community involvement and support of local charities and nonprofits. Ballreich's was featured in Walmart's "Made in America" campaign. In addition, major improvements were made the plant. In 2015, the company achieved a new level of quality food certification and opened Granny Ballreich's Company Store. On a downside, the company had two fires in the plant in 2015. The year 2016 brought awards from The Chip Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York, and a new website featuring the ability to order products online, and the website said the innovation team was working on a new item with eight patents pending. They were planning a new product launch in 2017, but that was the last entry in the website history. In 2019, the company was purchased by the local investor group and entered a new chapter of its history. Its second century begins with new potato chip flavors and plans for expansion. Happy birthday, Ballreich's! Ballreich's adds three new flavors Ballreich Snack Food Company announced three new flavors this week to celebrate its 100-year anniversary - Honey Butter, Sweet Thai Chili and Smoked Cheddar. "We tuned in to popular flavor trends and looked to offer our customers more options. It inspired us to create three new, bold seasonings, packed with sweet, savory and smoky essence," said Jamie Twining, vice president of sales in a news release. "We're extremely excited about these new flavors and think our fans will love them as much as we do." President and CEO Steve Dandurand said customers were looking for something new and the company didn't have any cheese-related flavors. "That's why we introduced the Smokey Cheddar," he said. "We wanted to get into that area, but we wanted something you don't necessarily get anywhere else." He said the other two flavors have an international feel. "Honey Butter is actually a Korean flavoring and, of course, Thai Chili is Asian," he said. All three flavors are available in 1.5-ounce, 2.75-ounce and 9-ounce bags, and customers can look for them at local grocery, convenience, specialty and discount stores or purchase them online at www.ballreich.com. As part of the celebration and introduction, the company is placing samples in each online order through Sept. 15. Check Facebook or Twitter for details, or visit the company's website at www.ballreich.com.