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Ron Zappe, the founder of Zapp's Potato Chips, graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in industrial engineering. He began his career in the oil industry, launching four companies distributing pumps and other oil field equipment. However, when the 1980s oil bust sent his companies into bankruptcy, Zappe and his family moved from Houston to Louisiana in search of new opportunities.
After Zappe's wife purchased a bag of Texas-made kettle-fried chips at the grocery store, he had the idea to make a similar chip in Louisiana. "My wife, Anne, thought I'd gone nuts,'' Mr. Zappe once said, according to his obituary in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, "But I told her, 'No, not nuts, chips.''
Having recently closed four businesses, Zappe's eagerness to get started was halted by his lack of funding. "I asked 10 banks for a loan to begin the venture and they all laughed me out of the office,'' he said (per Southern Living). "The 11th finally gave me my start. I never gave up. That's the secret.''
With his $150,000 funding in hand, Zappe converted a former Faucheux Chevrolet dealership in Gramercy, Louisiana into a potato chip manufacturing plant. There he started making a thicker-cut, kettle-fried potato chip cooked in peanut oil. The Zapp's factory quickly began to draw attention, [Zappe] telling Oprah Winfrey on her show in 1997: "We made chips on the showroom floor and teenagers would park outside, watch us like a movie and do a lot of kissing" (according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune).
While his previous businesses may have circumstantially failed, Zappe still knew how to market and grow a business. As stated in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Zappe spent time at busy intersections handing out free samples of chips. His extravagant personality earned him coverage in national publications such as The Wall Street Journal and People Magazine.
His Zapp's "Tiger-Tators" became the first food product licensed by LSU, and he sold "Who Dat?" chips to the New Orleans Saints football team. He also created the 1-800-HOT-CHIP hotline for all of your Zapp's needs and his invention of the "Cajun Crawtators" in 1985 earned the title of "The Nation's First Spicy Potato Chip" (per Southern Living).
Ron Zappe passed away in 2010 from cancer treatment complications. However, Zapp's Potato Chip's was sold to Utz Quality Foods in 2011, where it remains as the company's #3 brand. Zapp's Potato Chips continues to be a Daringly Different brand beloved by fans, still churning out unique New Orleans flavors sold across the country (per Southern Living).