founded 1985 founder ron zappe headquarters gramercy louisiana united states parent utz quality foods slogan food for the fun of it website zapp s potato chips zapp s is a brand of potato chip made in the united states . the chips are cooked and packaged in gramercy louisiana . the chips are kettle cooked in peanut oil instead of vegetable oil which many other companies use . zapp s market themselves with their cajun heritage 1 using names such as spicy cajun crawtator sour cream and creole onion and cajun dill gator tators . others in addition to the regular flavored include hotter n hot jalape o 2 and mesquite bbq . they have also marketed numerous chips such as a limited edition mardi gras chip . the company was founded by ron zappe who graduated from texas a & m university with a degree in industrial engineering and became a distributor of pumps and other oil field equipment . his four companies went bankrupt during the 1980s oil bust and he moved from houston to louisiana and started a potato chip business . 3 zappe later received national attention for his 1988 campaign appearance on behalf of republican vice presidential candidate dan quayle crediting a jobs program co created by quayle with enabling him to start his factory in gramercy . 4 5 zappe s first creation the cajun crawtator was introduced in 1985 as the nation s first spicy cajun chip . zapp s tiger tators were the first food product licensed by louisiana state university and it also sold who dat chips in honor of the new orleans saints . zapp s most popular flavor is voodoo which was created in 2008 by kevin holden general manager and a shareholder of the company . in 1993 zapp s acquired the dirty chip company in memphis tn which manufactures dirty chips brand kettle chips . in 2006 zapp s acquired the california chip company in oxnard ca which manufactures california chips brand potato chips . zappe appeared on the oprah winfrey show in 1997 and the chips were profiled in national publications such as people and the wall street journal . zappe died in houston texas on june 1 2010 at the age of 67 . 6 7 in january 2011 it was reported that the company would be sold to utz quality foods of hanover pennsylvania . 8 the sale to utz was completed in april 2011 . zapp s operates as a wholly owned subsidiary continuing to manufacture at the gramercy plant . references edit donald j. boudreaux a chip off the energy industry block pittsburgh tribune review march 17 2005 . lisa belkin at the nation s table houston new york times june 1 1988 . mary fonseca cajun crunchies ron zappe s potato chip business nation s business may 1990 . bob secter strategists craft positive image quayle campaign turns from survival to offense los angeles times september 1 1988 . michael kranish beleaguered job program could be thorn in quayle camp boston globe september 11 1988 pay site . zapp s potato chips founder dies the advocate baton rouge la . june 1 2010 . anna brown zapp s creator owner dies at age 67 archived july 23 2011 at the wayback machine . wbrz tv june 1 2010 . zapp s of gramercy being sold to pennsylvania company ap in times picayune january 7 2011 . external links edit zapp s.com former zapp s execs entering tortilla business retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title zapp % 27s & oldid 730812766 categories brand name snack foodssnack food manufacturers of the united statesbrand name potato chips and crispscajun cuisinecompanies established in 19851985 establishments in louisianacompanies based in louisianast . james parish louisianahidden categories articles with wayback machine linkspages using infobox company with unsupported parameters 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 21 july 2016 at 07 53 . 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