Features

Art’s and Mary’s: Brothers are in the chips

Written by Rebecca Peppard. Posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Brothers Bret and Jeff Albers own and eat Art’s & Mary’s Tater Chips, the Kansas-born chip now expanding into Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri. They like jalapeño best.

Using Art Kyburz’s recipe for their Original and Barbeque chips, they have added Jalapeno, Parmesan, Salt & Vinegar, No Salt, 40% Reduced Fat, and their latest addition, Salt & Pepper flavors.

They discontinued the Dill flavor because it was too similar to Salt & Vinegar, the more popular, Bred Albers said. The brothers try to add a new flavor every year.

Who are Art and Mary?

Kybruz and his wife Mary founded the chip company in the early 1980s.

Originally, Art’s Tater Chips made Original Flavor, Hot Jalapeno, Dill, and Barbeque in a plant in Wichita. When the needed more room, operations moved to Walton.

Art later added Mary’s name to the brand.

In 1994 the brothers, who are from Chaney, bought Art’s original recipes for the chips and seasoning and the licensing rights to Art’s & Mary’s Tater Chips. The Walton plant had been sold at auction so they selected a Wyoming company that could meet their requirements. They also contracted their distribution to independent drivers instead of using their own as Kybruz had done.

By September 1999 Art’s & Mary’s Tater Chips were back on the shelves.

Bret Albers said, “We only had one chance to reintroduce these chips and make them a success. We wanted to get it right,” Bret Albers said. Art’s & Mary’s depended on the reputation of the chips.

Beyond the chip

In 2002 Bret and Jeff Albers started using focus groups to discuss improvements to their products. They took bags of chips to local restaurants and bars, found groups of young people, and got their opinions on taste, bag design and size. Their product was a hit but the bags looked dated. The logo was plain and the font on some flavors was bigger than on others.

The brothers decided they needed to make some design changes. They stayed with the same layout on the front of the bag and kept the recognizable stripes.

But they updated the Art’s & Mary’s logo and made the fonts uniform. Each bag now consists of two colors, unique to the particular flavor.

The chips are available in 9-ounce, 5-ounce and 2.5-ounce bag. A 1.5-ounce bag serves restaurants, bars and vending machines.

Art’s & Mary’s outgrew the Wyoming plant. Today, a company in Perhim, Minnesota produces the chips. Williams Food in Lenexa mixes all of the seasoning and Kendall Packaging in Pittsburg supplies film for the bags. These companies do everything to the brothers’ specifications, still sticking to the original recipes.

Expect to see new items from Art’s & Mary’s. Venturing beyond the potato, the company has begun producing cheese balls, cheese puffs and corn pops.

Corporate offices are run out of Cheney.

The chips can be ordered at www.artsandmarys.com.