We had the good fortune of connecting with Megan and Scott Reamer and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Megan and Scott, what is the most important factor behind your success?
In a snack industry dominated by cheap ingredients and refined oils that are pro-inflammatory, the biggest differentiator has been our unwavering dedication to only using clean ingredients, including unadulterated premium avocado and coconut oils, to create epic taste sensations for our kettle-cooked sweet potato chips. Jackson’s began in our kitchen where we were determined to make a crave-worthy salty snack that our whole family could enjoy, including our son Jackson who required a low-inflammation diet due to a rare auto-immune disorder. We steered clear of poly-unsaturated fats and cheap refined seed oils, kettle-cooking our heirloom, non-GMO potatoes low and slow in ancestral oils on our stovetop. We were surprised and delighted by the consumer response to using these premium oils. As the first snack brand to focus exclusively on offering healthy, nutrient-dense oils with a mission-oriented focus, Jackson’s resonated with customers and buyers alike.
Jackson’s kettle-cooked sweet potato chips provide the crunchy, natural snack everyone craves and can feel better about eating. Plus, our chips are popular for consumers looking for snacking alternatives that meet a range of dietary needs including gluten-free, vegan, kosher, grain-free, and free from the Top 9 Allergens.
What should our readers know about your business?
The position we hold as parents is what drove us to find a solution. Having no background in the CPG industry, we experienced much trial and error in perfecting a high-fat and low-carb chip that our family would love and would love our bodies back. Starting with purposeful ingredients that are cooked ‘low and slow’ to maintain the nutritional density, and packed full of flavor with innovative seasonings that pair uniquely with the sweet potato, Jackson’s became an instant hit with family and friends. We then began selling the chips through retail outlets in fall 2013.
After securing a deal with Shark Tank’s Rohan Oza, our company, known at the time as Jackson’s Honest, quickly grew to more than 30 SKUs. We were experimenting with other low-inflammation snack options but weren’t giving ourselves enough time to really perfect each product like we wanted to. And like many other small businesses, we met with supply chain issues to get our product on the shelves at national retailers.
We wanted to focus on how we could mindfully scale to meet the demand for our bestselling chips without compromising on quality so in September 2021, we rebranded to Jackson’s, refined our product line to focus on heirloom sweet potatoes cooked in two premium oils (coconut and avocado), redesigned our packaging, and relaunched our chip company with a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Wisconsin, the only facility 100% devoted to sweet potato chip production. This pivot has proven fruitful, allowing us national distribution in major retailers as well as more flexibility in meeting consumer demand quickly during the last few years of immense supply chain delays and capacity issues. We are thrilled to be able to grow with our brand while sharing the mission centering around Jackson, and advocating for the health and wellbeing of families everywhere.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d take a visit to Boulder and some of our favorite places are: hiking Mt Sanitas and Chautauqua, grabbing a bite at Rosetta Hall and Bartaco (you really can’t go wrong on Pearl St), coffee at Ozo, fresh pressed juice at Wonder, Skratch Labs Café. There’s the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and the entire University of Colorado campus for a walkabout. There’s skiing at Eldora during the ski season, hiking and mountain biking during the summer and fall (and even winter with a fat tire bike) and concerts nearby at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
All of the credit and inspiration for Jackson’s is Jackson himself. His brave battle for more than a decade to diagnose his rare disease and live through years of pain and discomfort continues to provide inspiration for us as his parents, and for our entire team. We work to honor his legacy on a daily basis.
Website: https://jacksonschips.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonschips/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jacksonschips/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JacksonsChips
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacksonsChips
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jacksonschips
Image Credits
Please mark as “Photo courtesy of Jackson’s”