Spices make the difference for thriving Armstrong County chip company
One of an occasional series of stories in which the Leader Times features companies or people who manufacture products in Armstrong County.
The Boyers Potato Chips company is so well-known in Rural Valley that folks returning home for holidays or the start of trout fishing season often head right to the unmarked, nondescript white and burgundy cement building on South Water Street to buy their favorite snacks by the case.
“We're known pretty much by word of mouth,” said Jason Atherton of Templeton, who owns the business with his parents, Doug and Kim.
For years, the stretch of South Water Street where the company is located has been known locally as Potato Chip Road. But that may change soon as the company prepares to move in May or early June to a building being built in Templeton.
Atherton, 31, and his parents have owned the business since 2007. They are the only employees, but family members occasionally pitch in to help. The Athertons bought the company name, its patented seasoning recipes and machinery from the estate of Jack Boyer.
Boyer, who died in 2006, founded the business in 1949 and co-owned it with his brother Neil. Back when the business started, the Boyer brothers turned potatoes into chips right at the 2,400-square foot plant at 202 S. Water St.
That hasn't happened in at least 20 years, Atherton said. Today, the company buys bulk potato chips from a Latrobe supplier, then seasons and packs them for distribution.
Of the 12 flavors offered, the beer and hot vinegar chips are by far the favorites, Atherton said.
“Nobody else makes them like we do,” he said. “Another favorite is the ‘Ouch Hot' flavor, seasoned with a hybrid cayenne pepper. If you like hot — that's the chip for you.”
Boyers Potato Chips are sold in bars, nightclubs and gas stations throughout Armstrong County and areas north — to an Ohio distributor — and all the way up to the New York state line.
But moving to the two-story building in Templeton will give the company room to grow and expand its customer base in Pittsburgh and Butler.
Atherton this week stood in the windowless Rural Valley building next to an aging packing machine that is still in use. He and his parents rent the building from Lorraine Uplinger, who lives next door and who had been involved with the company before the Athertons bought it.
“She used to be the chip seasoner,” Atherton said. “She was like the heart and soul of the production and taught us all about the seasoning. We pretty much kept everything the same.”
Atherton said he and his family decided not to buy the building from Uplinger when they bought the business because the economy had just taken a downturn.
“We made the decision not to load up on loans, so everything is free and clear,” he said.
Now, they are finally able to build their own plant, a 40- by 80-feet building at 531 Route 1032. A computerized potato chip packing machine will replace the old one. And the company may even go back to producing chips from scratch some day, Atherton said.
“It will be a manufacturing plant, but we are discussing the possibility of putting in a shop front,” Atherton said. “We don't want to discourage people from coming in.”
Brigid Beatty is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-543-1303 or bbeatty@tribweb.com.
