Josh Monahan comes from a family with a long and distinguished history in the snack-food industry.
His parents are John and Carol Monahan, owners of the Peanut Roaster in Henderson.
Now Josh Monahan is extending that family tradition in a new direction. He has established a company to make and market potato chips. 1 in 6 Snacks Llc. sells kettle-cooked potato chips under the brand name Carolina Kettle. Monahan explained the origin of the company name. “One in six people don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” Monahan said.
The company name is a reminder of that grim statistic. Plus he is doing something about it: For every 2 ounce bag of chips he sells, 5 cents is donated to a local food bank.
Monahan, a junior at North Carolina State University, got some background for starting his own company by working for his parents over the summer and at Christmas time, although he said his efforts were mostly in sales. Monahan grew up in Henderson and graduated from Kerr-Vance Academy. He is majoring in agribusiness management in NC State University.
Two years ago, he began experimenting with methods of cooking and seasoning potato chips. The chips are hand-cooked in 100 percent coconut oil in small-batch kettles. The resulting snacks are all-natural, gluten-free, kosher-certified and “outrageously crunchy,” he said.
They are offered in six flavors: Bee Sting Honey Sriracha, Southern Twang Salt & Vinegar, The “Mama Gin” Dill Pickle, Down East Carolina BBQ, Low Country Crab Boil and Cozumel Jalapeno Queso.
“I saw what flavors were popular and went off that,” he said. “Also, I went with flavors I like.” Carolina Kettle chips are available locally at The Attic, Nunnery-Freeman Barbecue Restaurant, the Rogers Group, Kittrell Grocery and Stovall’s Gifts and Collectibles in Oxford.
For chips sold in the Tri-County region, donations are made to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. And a portion of that comes directly to Vance County. Jennifer Caslin, public relations and marketing specialist with the food bank, said Vance County received more than 1.9 million pounds of food from organization in 2015. That food was distributed to ACTS, the Salvation Army, other community organizations and about a dozen churches.
Carolina Kettle and 1 in 6 Snacks Llc. are helping to guarantee that food for Vance County families will continue to flow in 2016.
“Josh made his first donation this month: $150,” Caslin said. “That translates into 750 meals for families in our service area.”