New local chip brand lets snackers munch with less guilt
Bags are hitting shelves soon 😋🛒
Baton Rougeans have a new chip brand to snack on. And they’re thoughtfully crafted to weed out junky ingredients.
Capital City Chip Co., a seed-oil-free kettle chip brand, launches this Saturday at Southside Produce and Calandro’s Supermarket. After the brand’s debut, the chips will roll out across the Capital Region at other shops and grocers.
Capital City Chip Co. partners Steven Gottfried and Cody Dunham dreamed up the cleaner-for-you snack at a Fourth of July party in 2025. As fathers, Gottfried and Dunham found themselves more conscious about the ingredients of snacks for their families. So the duo set out to create their own line of kettle-cooked chips made with cleaner labels that didn’t sacrifice flavor or quality.
“No seed oils was No. 1,” Gottfried says. “But we took it even further than that, and really nitpicked every little micro-ingredient.”
Equipped with fryers and lots of avocado oil, Gottfried and Dunham began making test batches, dusting them with flavor. They eventually decided to outsource manufacturing, landing on a co-packer Kevin Holden, who’s behind Hola Nola Foods and previously worked with Zapp’s. Gottfried says outsourcing gives the brand room to grow.
Gottfried says the products will be on shelves right after being received from the manufacturer, ensuring a fresh bag for customers each time.
“Our chips are never going to sit for like 90 days on a shelf,” he says. “We’re really focusing on that freshness.”
Capital City Chip Co. will have three core flavors—Sea Salt, Louisiana BBQ, and Garlic & Vinegar—along with a fourth option that will rotate. Gottfried teases that he and Dunham already have nine flavors lined up to fit into that rotating spot, like Steakhouse and Cajun Honey Mustard. As a self-proclaimed “garlic guy,” the Garlic & Vinegar is his jam, born out of his love for garlic and his wife’s fondness for salt and vinegar chips.
Though not directly tied to Gottfried’s beloved bread brand St. Bruno Bread Co., Capital City Chip Co. will eventually be in every local store that carries Gottfried’s baked goods. And on the chip brand’s website, flavor descriptions include sandwich pairing suggestions, made with St. Bruno products, of course. For example, classic Sea Salt goes best with a turkey and provolone on St. Bruno country sourdough.
Besides the name, the brand has other nods to the 225, like bag labels designed by local marketing agency Gatorworks. Gottfried even teases that Capital City Chip Co. will make an appearance in next year’s Wearin’ of the Green parade. Snack-size chip bag throws? Say less.
As Capital City Chip Co. rolls out, Gottfried says he and Dunham plan on taking a grassroots approach, meeting customers at local grocery stores and setting up booths to pass out samples to further build the brand.
“We were trying to create a local brand born and raised in Baton Rouge,” Gottfried says, “and just have the highest quality chips that we could with really great flavors.”
