Features Focus is a biweekly spotlight highlighting a member of the Wolfpack — professors, researchers, students past and present and anyone with a great story. If you know someone who fits this description, let us know at [email protected].

Josh Monahan, senior studying agribusiness management, knew he wanted to pursue a career in snack foods, but what he was uncertain of was what cause he wanted to contribute to. He found inspiration in the United States’ ubiquitous hunger problem; 1 in 6 people is plagued with the uncertainty of what their next meal will be. Monahan is no stranger to the snack food industry; his parents’ company, The Peanut Roaster, has been around for over 60 years.

“They own The Peanut Roaster, so they sell peanuts,” Monahan said. “I didn’t really want to do the peanut thing so I’m doing this.”

After two years, he launched his company, 1 in 6 Snacks, producing chips under the brand Carolina Kettle. 

“[I was] trying to do something snack-food related,” Monahan said. “I kind of knew the peanut side of it because of my parents, but I wanted to learn a different side of it.”

The brand name is an ode to North Carolina’s landmark vegetable. Local potatoes and ingredients are used in production. The kettle batches are hand-cooked in 100 percent coconut oil. Kettle chips set themselves apart with this cooking process. Made in batches, they cook at a lower temperature, giving the chip its unmistakable texture and thickness.

“I knew I wanted to do something different, and nobody’s really doing the unique flavors of kettle chips, and there’s not really any other kettle chip companies in North Carolina, so I wanted to do that,” Monahan said.

Presently, the bags are being co-packed, although when Monahan graduates he plans on doing it himself.

“They’re being made in Pennsylvania right now,” Monahan said. “But that’s until I can start doing it here. We’re [with] the Got to be NC, where goodness grows. All the local products are part of the Got to be NC program.”

The flavors pack a powerful punch. Carolina Kettle features six flavors, but plans to expand in the future. The current lineup includes Bee Sting Honey Sriracha, Southern Twang Salt and Vinegar, The “Mama Gin” Dill Pickle, Down East Carolina Barbeque, Low Country Crab Boil and Cozumel Jalapeno Queso.

“I had some help with it [the design], but I came up with the flavors and told them what I was looking for,” Monahan said. “Somebody helped me design the packaging.”

Monahan, a snack connoisseur in his own right, treated the concoctions delicately. Perfecting the flavor was a trial-and-error process, taking weeks to curate.

“It was hard getting the seasonings right,” Monahan said. “Because the person doing the seasonings would send it to us and [we’d] be like, ‘a little bit more of this, a little bit more of that,’ then we’d have to wait a couple weeks to get a different one. So it took about a year to start, but now we’re going pretty good.”

The bags are available in 2-ounce portions, which each correspond to a $0.05 donation to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern Raleigh. To put this in perspective, one dollar is the equivalent of 5 meals.

“I donate it to the local food banks, so wherever the bags are sold we donate to that food bank,” Monahan said.

Monahan plans on expanding his product line and bag size.

“Right now, and I’m trying to work on a sweet potato chip, so that’ll be the next thing,” Monahan said. “Because North Carolina is number one in sweet potatoes, so it’d be kind of a cool North Carolina thing to do.”

Additionally, a plain salted flavor is in the works. The chips are available in a growing number of North Carolina locations, two of which are in walking distance from campus, Liquid State and Green Monkey.

Rusty Sutton, who co-owns Green Monkey with Drew Temple, also prefers to keep things local. His shop overflows with North Carolina gifts and craft beers.

“Everything we do here is local; that’s what excited us about these chips,” Sutton said. “We’re a gift shop and craft beer bar, so we needed snacks for people.”

The quintessential snack food didn’t last long. Overlooking the beer bar, Carolina Kettle was undaunted by comparison. Nestled among familiar brands, the bags flew off the shelves, proving a snack not to be trifled with.

“We’ve only had them here for two weeks and we’re completely sold out except for three bags,” Sutton said.

Spread across the bar, Rusty administered a taste test. The crunchy medallions, teeming with flavor, were grabbed up by the handfuls.

“We did a tasting, opening the six flavors last week, and people couldn’t get enough of them,” Sutton said. “They were very popular.”

Sutton, sifting through the flavors, admits he has a predilection for dill.

“The dill pickle is my favorite flavor,” Sutton said. “And I don’t like pickles — I just like the dill. It doesn’t have a vinegary flavoring to them like other dill pickle chips.”

When Sutton read up on Monahan’s story, he was excited to do business with him.

“We loved the idea of donating $0.05 of every bag to the food bank,” Sutton said. “Especially as a student going after something bigger — we thought that was so cool.”

Students at NC State will soon be able to eat their way through the flavors.

“I’m in a bunch of gourmet stores around here, and I’m trying to get into delis and stuff,” Monahan said. “But hopefully, starting at the end of this month, I’ll be in the C-Stores on campus.”

Looking forward, Monahan prospects the snack to be available in grocery stores.

“I’m talking to grocery stores now, which is a lot of work, requiring a lot of paperwork,” Monahan said. “Hopefully they’ll be in grocery stores in the next year or so.”

To find out more, visit www.carolinakettle.com

Tune in to Eye on the Triangle on 88.1 WKNC on June 28 to hear the audio version of the interview.