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Charles Chips


Rye Miles #13621

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6 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Never seen'em on the west coast.

OLG

The company was started in 1942 when Effie Musser sold her potato chips through a distributor, who put them in distinctive tins, and named them Charles Chips after Charles Street in Baltimore. Effie and her husband soon took over the business and by 1946, moved production to a professional kitchen. They started offering home delivery of their chips, and added pretzels and cookies.

In 1974, the business model of home delivery became more challenging. The company made a strategic move to develop retail packaging and market their products into groceryand convenience stores. In 1979, Charles Chips began distribution into the California market from the Calhoun, KY plant.

In 1984, Charles Chips completed construction of a state-of-the-art pretzel and corn based snack production facility in Mountville, PA.

In 1990, the company had wholesale revenue in excess of $45 million. In 1991, the Mussers sold Charles Chips to a group of investors from Philadelphia. This new company went bankrupt 18 months later.

In 1993, Charles Chips was acquired by a popcorn company from Tampa, FL. They too went bankrupt about 18 months later.

In 1996, Hillside Snacks in Arlington, NJ acquired the Charles Chips trademark and started marketing Charles Chips under a different recipe.

In early 2011, the Scardino family bought the brand, with plans to bring back the original recipes and the tins. They now sell chips, pretzels, and cookies from their websit

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When I was a kid we bought the tin cans of Charles Chips at the grocery store. We also bought Utz potato chips in similar cans. I never could figure out which chips were better but I enjoyed both brands.

 

Thanks Rye.

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I moved to AZ from Rockford, IL. where they had 2 potato chip makers, Mrs. Fishers, and Ol' Saltys. Both were very good and you could only buy them in the Northern Illinois area. I liked both of them, but I liked Mrs. Fishers the best. Really miss them, and they are still in business. I can order a 5 pound tub of Mrs. Fishers online for $47.

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As a kid in PA, we had them delivered to the house - chips and pretzels in cans.  Also had the milk man (Martin's Dairy) who left milk, chocolate milk, orange juice and lemonade, all in glass bottles with paper lids, in the metal milk box on the front step.

 

It was a different time.  Friendly personal service, no plastic, no stealing what's on your neighbor's stoop.

 

LL

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29 minutes ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Never heard of them.

That's okay, they've never heard of you either!!:lol::P:P

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20 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

image.png.4c769a59763c2cf6fc1b8c384c731202.pngRemember when they used to deliver to your house??

I do remember home delivery, and the same for their pretzels.

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I remember them as a kid in Maryland. 

 

I also remember when there were small local soda makers.  Frostie Root beer and Marvel's Ginger ale.  Last time I saw either, it was in a vending machine with the long thin door where you pulled the bottle out.

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