Arts & Entertainment
Local Potato Chip Company Draws Inspiration From Iconic Chicago Foods
Chicago food culture is built on some of the city’s most famous foods: deep dish pizza, Italian beef, and of course, the classic Chicago-style hot dog.
Now, a local entrepreneur is putting all of those flavors in the bag, and adding a little crunch to the city’s food scene.
Laura Gardner, owner of Local Style Potato Chips, set out to combine her love of potato chips and Chicago foods to make the ultimate snack. Though not a Chicago native, Gardner has taken on the city as her chosen home and fell in love with all aspects including the culture, nightlife, and of course, the food.
“The food scene has been something that’s underpinned every single one of my life phases,” said Gardner. “You think about the different events, concerts and museums. Everywhere you go there is an event centered around food and the people you love, and I think that’s what makes the city an unbelievable food city.”
Gardner believes one of Chicago’s greatest attributes is its ability to blend highbrow and lowbrow — which helped spark her inspiration to create this new line of potato chips.
Once she decided to venture down this career path, she had no trouble with selecting the first flavors. Gardner simply followed the city’s “holy trinity” of deep dish pizza, Italian beef and the Chicago-style hot dog. The brand also includes a traditional classic kettle chip and a hot giardiniera flavor — what Gardner calls Chicago’s best kept secret.
“You talk about giardiniera outside of Chicago, and no one knows what you’re talking about, which is troubling to me,” Gardner said.
Each bag features a different cartoon character for each flavor. Gardner’s husband, David, and his design team at Color Jar played a hand in the brand’s logo and characters. Each character is named after a member of Gardner’s family and close circle, featuring her husband as the hot dog and her daughter, Lucy, as the deep dish pizza. Her other daughter, Elle, does not have a character yet but Gardner said it is in the works and will play off of Chicago’s ‘L’ trains.
“I wanted to showcase the people I love the most in this brand, little treasure hunts for our customers,” Gardner said. “We really wanted to make this in the way that it’s a family business.”
Gardner has hopes to become the chip version of Garrett popcorn, and the business’ momentum is continuing to pick up.
Local Style Potato Chips started out in seven neighborhoods and has already grown to 17, including the West Loop, West Town, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Logan Square, Edgewater, Bridgeport, Hyde Park, Lakeview and Wrigleyville.
The first few locations were based on locations Gardner has lived and created fond memories. When Gardner and her husband first started dating they would often visit The Goddess and Grocer in Bucktown, now one of the few homes for their chips.
“All these spots at the time were just part of my routine, part of my day,” Gardner said. “And over time I realized how much they meant to me and how I really wanted them to be part of this business at the beginning.”
Local Style Potato Chips has a goal of becoming part of all 77 neighborhoods. The company has garnered national attention from companies in Florida, Arizona, Boston and Tennessee reaching out in hopes of selling the chips.
“Some of the challenges we are facing right now is inventory,” Gardner said. “We are quickly finding that me and my husband delivering in the U-Haul isn’t a long-term solution, even though we love it. I will still participate in delivery day because it’s my favorite day, but we definitely need to bring on a delivery team that will service more neighborhoods in Chicago and the suburbs.”
Every Friday, the couple rents a U-Haul truck, loads up the newly packaged chips and sets out on their distribution route around 9 a.m. Replenishing their partners’ chip supply gives them a chance to connect with their partners, restock shelves and watch the city react to their product. Their partners noted customers’ preferred flavors vary, but they have seen a large following for the Italian beef and Chicago-style hot dog.
With more flavors in the works, Gardner hopes to look toward the city for new ideas.
“I would love to co-build and co-create the next line of flavors with the city, just asking the city what they want and then building it for them,” Gardner said.
