snack food founded 1927 founder leonard japp sr & william ruwitch headquarters chicago illinois usa key people joe shankland 1 president and ceo bill luegers 2 cfo products see products section revenue us 78.1 million 2 parent snyder s lance website jays foods jays foods inc. is a manufacturer of snack products including potato chips popcorn and pretzels . jays foods was founded in 1927 in chicago illinois and is currently a subsidiary of snyder s of hanover . 3 operating in several midwestern states jays foods potato chips and popcorn maintain significant shares of their respective markets . jays foods filed for bankruptcy in october 2007 4 and permanently closed its chicago manufacturing plant on december 5 2007 . 5 contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 market share 3 products 4 see also 5 notes 6 bibliography history edit leonard japp sr. began selling pretzels from a truck in 1927 . the business grew to feature a potato chip recipe made by japp s wife eugenia . 1 after the wall street crash of 1929 japp found a new business partner and began selling the chips under the brand name mrs. japp s potato chips . the 1941 attack on pearl harbor and the subsequent anti japanese sentiment however led to a negative connotation towards the word jap in the united states . 3 the chips were consequently rebranded to jays potato chips to avoid the sound alike name and the company became jays foods inc. jays foods remained a family owned company until 1986 when the company was sold to borden inc. 6 in 1994 jays foods was re acquired by the japp family . in 2004 jays foods was purchased by willis stein & partners a chicago private equity firm and together with another snack company acquired by willis stein & partners lincoln snacks company assigned a parent company ubiquity brands . jays foods filed chapter 11 bankruptcy on october 11 2007 the second time in four years 4 7 and permanently closed its chicago manufacturing plant on december 5 2007 . 5 on december 5 2007 the remaining assets of jay s were acquired by snyder s lance inc. who have said they will continue to manufacture and distribute jays products throughout the midwest . 8 snyder s lance will continue to operate jays chicago warehouse and distribution center and its jeffersonville indiana manufacturing facility . 9 operations edit jays foods manufactures markets and distributes its products in the seven state area of illinois indiana michigan wisconsin iowa minnesota and missouri . jays foods has distribution centers in fifteen major cities in the seven state marketing area . 6 jays has 310 company owned routes and 200 routes owned by independent distributors . the company has a total of 943 employees . 7 market share edit jays foods does not market its products nationally . despite competition from national brands such as frito lay which has a 67 percent market share 10 jays foods has 23 percent share of the potato chip market in illinois indiana wisconsin missouri minnesota and iowa and over 60 percent market share in the ready to eat popcorn category . 1 jays foods has been considering the possibility of competing as a national brand and has conducted marketing research and held focus groups in new jersey and california . 1 products edit jays potato chips jays crispy ridged potato chips original ; ranch herb ; onion & garlic ; barbecue cheddar & sour cream . jays e z dippin s discontinued mini pretzels & mustard ; tortilla chips & nacho cheese dip ; tortilla chips & salsa jays potato chips original ; barbecue ; cheese ; salt n sour ; sour n dill ; hot stuff jay s bacon & cheddar krunchers kettle and corn chips krunchers potato chips original ; reduced fat ; cheddar & sour cream ; jalape o ; sea salt & cracked pepper ; mesquite bar b que ; hawaiian sweet onion ; hot buffalo wing ; kosher dill krunchers sweet baby jays discontinued chips made from sweet potatoes ; introduced summer 2006 3 krunchers corn chips spicy four cheese ; guacamole ; jalape o o ke doke popcorn o ke doke balls of fire o ke doke hot cheese flavored popcorn o ke doke cheese popcorn o ke doke chicago mix popcorn cheese and caramel corn o ke doke white cheddar popcorn hot stuff other snacks hot stuff crunchy cheezlets see also edit frito lay old dutch foods notes edit a b c d us industry today jays foods llc retrieved november 28 2007 a b hoover s jays foods inc. factsheet retrieved november 29 2007 a b c potato pro snyder s of hanover officially acquires jays foods retrieved june 19 2008 a b rovito a b jays chip plant closing wednesday . sun times news group . retrieved 2007 12 04 . a b jays foods employment retrieved november 28 2007 a b yue snyders of hanover working to keep jays products in chicago . pr news now . retrieved 2008 04 09 . jays to close south side plant throwing 220 out of work . chicago business . retrieved 2008 01 21 . answers.com potato chips corn chips and similar snacks retrieved november 28 2007 bibliography edit rovito rich october 26 2007 . jays foods may shut down plant in butler . the business journal of milwaukee . yerak becky october 2 2007 . possible buyers hanker for jays . chicago tribune . yue lorene november 9 2007 . jays foods may lay off more than 500 . chicago business news . v t e snyder s lance inc. divisions and brands lance snyder s of hanover krunchers cape cod potato chips captain s wafers jays grande tom s eatsmart naturals archway o ke doke padrinos stella d oro quitos retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title jays foods & oldid 743336729 categories companies based in chicagocuisine of the midwestern united stateseconomy of the midwestern united statesbrand name snack foodscompanies established in 1927brand name potato chips and crispssnyder s lance inc. brands navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 04 58 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view