Costco Connection

supplier profile
Cashing
chıps in their
Food Should
Taste Good
goes national

different flavors ranging from multigrain to jalapeño. Recent offerings include kettle-cooked sweet potato chips and brown rice crackers, the latter boasting ingredients such as natural flaxseed, sea salt and quinoa.

Food Should Taste Good’s line of chips and crackers are gluten free, cholesterol free and trans fat free, and do not use any genetically modified ingredients—a company mission since day one. And the chips taste good, too. “You don’t have to sacrifice flavor and taste to eat something that’s healthful, natural or organic,” Lescoe says.

Getting the chip to market

Lescoe, who had worked for grocery
stores, restaurants and another snack start-
up, tinkered with the company’s first two
a
up, tinkered with the company’s first two
products, multigrain and jalapeño chips, in
the kitchen of his small apartment. He bor-
rowed $50,000 from family members to
invest in the first round of packaging and
began selling the product in January 2006.

By Chris Penttila

WHEN ENTREPRENEUR Pete Lescoe was trying to name his natural snack company six years ago, he created a two-page list of potential names with words ranging from “barn” to “farm” to “field.” But he didn’t think any of these natural-sounding names described his personality or products.

Then he did a brainstorming session with
some family members, and the company
name just seemed to write itself: Food Should
Taste Good. “I joke now that we have the
hardest-working brand name, because it’s
longer than normal and it’s not the easiest one
to remember,” jokes Lescoe, 34. “But it’s
everything our company is about.”
Today, the 55-employee natural chip
maker, based in Needham, Massachusetts,
sells 5 million bags of chips per month in 16

Giving back

The company has a strong altruistic side and gives back to communities, employees and the environment. Over the last five years, the company has donated $500,000 in products and more than $250,000 in monetary donations to causes such as the fights against breast cancer and hunger. Employees receive matching funds to support their favorite causes, ranging from Everyone One thing is for sure: There’s dough to be made in tough economic times if your products hit the right niche. “Consumers are willing to pay for products that are real, taste good and are authentic,” Lescoe says. C

le

Comments about Costco: “Costco has a wonderful demo program that we participate in. They support and get behind all their products. There’s not a lot of places in retail anymore where you can try before you buy, and to me as a consumer that goes a long way.”—Pete Lescoe