Growing up in the Midwest, I felt like I saw Seyfert’s potato chips everywhere, all the time, and yet I never picked up a bag. Why? The labels are so wholesome! The colors are so primary! “Seyfert’s Snackin’! It’s Lip Smackin’!” is a totally solid tagline. And yet, they never came home with me. Now I fear it may be too late, as the Indiana chip-maker will soon cease operations after more than 80 years in business.
WPTA 21 of Fort Wayne reports that employees were recently notified of the company’s plans to close its doors. “I don’t know what we’re going to do now,” Brad Borntreger, a driver for Seyfert’s told the network. “There are going to be a lot of people out of a job.”
Charles Seyfert founded the company in Fort Wayne in 1934, after first attempting to launch a pretzel-making business. When that failed, he turned to potato chips, and for years, the company thrived. In addition to chips, the company manufactures cheese puffs, pretzels (sweet justice), and other snacks; sources told WPTA that other options, including sale, were explored, but no workable alternative was found.
Seyfert’s officials confirmed the closure to WPTA. Employees will receive one week of pay for every year of service, and job placement services will be provided as well.
WPTA also shared this charming anecdote: the brand got some extra visibility, on top of their ubiquity, in 1987, when Myrtle “the Potato Chip Lady” Young appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She was there to show off her collection of potato chips that look like food, clothes, famous people, animals, and other things that are not chips. It’s a charmer; watch it below—Carson’s chips are Seyfert’s.
I guess it’s time to head to the market and see if I can’t grab a bag at last.