"Stacy's Pita Thins - Crispy, Flaky & Flavourful" text rounded by Stacy's pita thins. © 2020 American Express Company. You can always lower your costs. Find company research, competitor information, contact details & financial data for Stacy's Pita Chip Company, Incorporated. - Nov. 20, 2009", "STACY'S® SIMPLY NAKED® Pita Chips | FritoLay", "STACY'S® Sea Salt Pita Thins | FritoLay", "STACY'S® Everything Flavored Bagel Chips | FritoLay", "The Cheese Crackers Spoon University Staff Is Weirdly Obsessed With", "STACY'S® Organic Simply Naked Pita Chips | FritoLay", "Bags of Stacy's Pita Chips recalled after report of severe allergic reaction", "Stacy's Rise Project expands funds for female founders to help close the investing gender divide", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stacy%27s_Pita_Chips&oldid=973049276, Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 August 2020, at 03:07. All users of our online services subject to Privacy Statement and agree to be bound by Terms of Service. But most of our employees were people at the factory in Randolph. Freelance Writer and editor, Self-employed. [10], Stacy's Bagel Chips are made by slicing bagels into small, thin pieces and baking them until they become crunchy. All rights reserved, Insights and Inspiration to Help Grow Your Business, Check for Pre-qualified Credit Card Offers, Credit Intel – Financial Education Center. was founded in 2005. She has since recovered and went on to launch several other successful food ventures, including Stacy's Juice Bar and Be Bold bars. [3] Due to the popularity of the sandwiches, Stacy and Marc would over-order pita bread from a local bakery. 362K likes. [4], As the popularity of the pita chips grew, Stacy and Marc began selling the chips alongside their sandwiches. [9], Stacy's Pita Thins are thinner versions of the original chips and come in three flavors: Simply Naked, 5 Cheese, and Garlic & Herbs. We found a woman who owned a pretzel company who had a rack oven and we rented space from her for a while, but that still wasn’t enough. [3], From 1997 to 1999, Stacy and Marc gave out samples of their chips in local grocery stores. The plan worked so well that by 2006 Stacy’s was selling nearly $65 million in pita chips per year, employing more than 300 people (including contractors) and was on the receiving end of purchasing offers. Around the time of the Frito-Lay acquisition of Stacy's Pita Chips, Stacy was diagnosed with breast cancer and an auto-immune disease. I recommend focusing on your core product. PepsiCo won that bid and now operates the company out of its original Randolph, Mass.–based factory. Those are other businesses. [3], "The Co-Founder of Stacy's Pita Chips Has an Interesting Story--and You Can Learn a Lot From It", "Stacy Madison | Fireman Capital Partners | Boston Massachusetts", "Can an Organic Chip Company Survive the Snack Aisle's Street Fight? Eventually, we bought a conveyor oven and then a machine that would help us cut the bread into squares. When PepsiCo acquired Stacy’s, did you stay on?Nope. In 1998, Madison and Andrus closed the cart business and, under the name Stacy’s Pita Chip Company, started wholesaling chips to local retailers. I’m not sure in what industry or what product it will sell, but I want to do it for my kids. Originally, we were making them in an oven with four racks. They agreed to a $250 million sale to Pepsi Co. and would operate under their Frito-Lay snack food division. In 2005, while Stacy and Marc were fielding offers for their business, the pita chip factory suffered a fire that affected 25% of the factory. Discover Stacy's® Pita Chips, Bagel Chips, Pita Thins, Cheese Petites and more! Behind that cart stood Stacy Madison, a Boston native with a background in social work who’d recently grown sick of the nine-to-five and followed her passion for food. People told us we should do a hummus or a salsa, but we knew it would never work. Stacy started a family in 2003 after having twins. STACY'S PITA CHIP COMPANY, INCORPORATED. Do one thing and do it right. We’ve done a lot of traveling over the last five years. Recently, I’ve gone to work with Fireman Capital Partners, a private equity group. I caught up with Madison to get the inside scoop on her wildly successful chip venture. ", "The CEO and the owner broke up. [11], Stacy's Cheese Petites are thins slices of cheese which are flavored and baked until crispy. What did you do for funding at this point?We had the money we’d stocked up from the food cart and from my credit card—something I don’t recommend. Fostering meaningful connections and serving delicious snacks. Pita chips are slices of pita bread which are baked until crunchy. Stacy Madison shares her story from sandwich cart to snack empire and offers advice to budding businesspeople. What advice can you give to small business owners just starting out?Don’t be afraid to ask for help from others in your industry. They are commonly eaten as a snack and come in a variety of flavors including Simply Naked (flavored only with sea salt), Cinnamon Sugar, and Garlic Parmesan among others. Mark and I also went to a lot of industry trade shows. Stacy and Marc founded Stacy's Pita Chips in 1996 upon returning to Boston and married in 1997, but the couple divorced in 2001. opens in a new tab "Stacy's Cheese Petites - Made With Real Cheese" text, cooking tables with lots of foods and white wine. Stacy and Marc decided to fully transition to selling pita chips, an operation they could continue year-round, and chose the name Stacy's Pita Chips because they believed a woman's name would appeal more to customers. As the cart grew in popularity and the line nearly out of control, Madison and her then-husband Mark Andrus, got creative. Currently, there are three flavors of Stacy's Bagel Chips: Simply Naked, Everything, and Toasted Garlic. Personal differences led to their divorce in 2001, however the divorce was amicable and Stacy and Marc agreed to split the business 50/50.[7]. When we needed more capital, I went to the bank and was granted a $60,000 loan, but less than a year later I went back and asked for a $500,000 loan. Stacy's Pita Chips was founded by Stacy Madison and her now ex-husband Marc Andrus in 1996, originally giving the pita chips away for free at their food cart to keep customers happy while waiting in line. I want them to see that again. [16], In February 2019, 228 bags of Stacy's Simply Naked Pita Chips were recalled after a manufacturing error resulted in the addition of an ingredient that caused allergic reactions to people with dairy-related allergies. Here's the story of how she launched, grew, and sold Stacy's Pita Chips.