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Megan Reamer and her husband started Jackson’s Chips with a simple mission—to share their son Jackson’s story. 🌟
Jackson was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that caused weight and GI issues. To help manage his health, they switched to a keto diet and began making sweet potato chips with healthy oils. 🥔💚
They had zero experience in the food industry, but that didn’t stop them! 🚀 Starting small, they made and shipped the chips themselves—but demand took off fast. 📦

Scaling up wasn’t easy. They had to figure out manufacturing, secure funding, and build a team. But they never gave up. 🙌
And it paid off! People fell in love with the chips, retailers took notice, and with the help of investors, Jackson’s Chips grew into the thriving, mission-driven brand it is today. 🎉
It’s proof that sometimes, the best businesses come from personal journeys—and a whole lot of determination! 💪
Check out the full interview below! ⬇️
Video Transcript 📝
Nicole (00:00):
Okay. Let’s get started. So why don’t you just go through who you are, what Jackson’s is about. Give me the background of how this came to be. How did this project come to be?
Megan (00:12):
Okay, sure. So I’m Megan Reamer. I’m one of the co-founders with my husband of Jackson’s Chips. We started Jackson’s as this opportunity to share our son, Jackson’s story. And so we founded Jackson’s 12 years ago. It’s been a wild, crazy ride for 12 years, but inspiration, and the primary reason was because our son had this undiagnosed, what turned out to be this rare autoimmune disease. And it took us 12 years to try to identify if there was anything we could do to either reverse or minimize what some of his symptoms were. And they were significant.
(00:55):
Like he lost the ability to walk and talk over that 12-year period. And so he lost all of his motor function. And it looked a lot like somebody who is going through a battle with multiple sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease and this gradual regression of sorts. And so as we were trying to find a diagnosis, we were just kind of grasping at straws and trying to figure out how do we help his quality of life on a daily basis and how do we try to decrease these symptoms that we’re seeing?
(01:30):
A lot of them were GI related and around trying to get him to gain weight and maintain a certain weight, and have sort of the cascade effect of what that would look like. Like being able to sleep for longer periods of time, et cetera. And so we just started to play around with his food and we ended up reverse engineering into this keto diet for him when it was 2005, 2006 and there were hardly any products available on the shelf to support that type of dietary approach.
(02:06):
And so we just started making these chips, sweet potato in a certain type of oil, a healthy fat and non- seed oil, and we kept waiting for somebody else to bring them to market, like another major chip company and they didn’t. And so we decided that we had this opportunity to share what our family had been through and share what we’d learned and do it through this product.
Nicole (02:36):
That’s amazing. I’m an autoimmune survivor as well, and even just advocating for yourself even as an adult is so difficult. So as a parent, I relate. I have two kids. And when you go through needing to make even minor dietary changes or a supplement change and you’re so weary of what’s going on in their bodies and how it affects everything being connected. Nowadays, I’m always like, it’s easier for me. I can go into a store and find what I need.
(03:02):
I know how to read ingredient labels, so I can only imagine the frustrations that came with you navigating it before the market really had caught up to your knowledge. What challenges did you face in bringing your heartfelt vision for Jackson’s to life? And how did you overcome some of those?
Megan (03:19):
Well, we didn’t know anything about salty snacks. We didn’t know anything about consumer packaged goods. We had no experience in that. I mean, I was a stay-at-home mom. Jackson is the oldest of my four kids and I had my hands full. He lived in a wheelchair and needed to be fed and stretched, and everything done for him. And then I had three younger children. And so we didn’t really know what we were getting into, which was probably good because I think it would’ve been really daunting.
(03:47):
In fact, I kept saying to my husband, “We need to start… Everyone loves these chips we make. We should start a company and we should make chips. It can’t be that hard. There’s so many packages on the shelf. How hard could it be?” He was a lot more realistic and practical, and said, “It’s really hard. It’s actually very hard and here’s why. There’s x number of companies that control all that space and here’s how much money. There’s no margin in it and all of this stuff.”
(04:17):
So he was very realistic and I was definitely the dreamer about it. And we somehow came together at a certain point and decided that we were going to do it. But we had to learn all that stuff. And so we made them by hand for the first year and made little snack-sized bags. We sealed them and packed them, and shipped them, and did all of it, made them. And then we had such a good response just selling them online to people who were finding us with a bare minimum webpage and Facebook at that point. This was 2013. My husband said, “I can’t keep doing this. I have a real job. I’m getting tendonitis in my elbow because I’m slicing potatoes every night for hours.”
(05:06):
So we found a co-packer and then we had to bring them up to speed and help them with this process. It was very new for them. And so at every stage we had to create a new process really. We were disrupting that category because we were introducing something that was a completely different type of oil and product. And so there was a whole new process that needed to happen.
(05:32):
Initially we started with coconut oil. So that was a totally different beast for a large manufacturer to work with and much more challenging. And so I think the challenges were at every stage of this launch of this business. And it was the funding, it was the process, it was the team, and building the right team. We got really lucky with the timing around when we were launching it because there was nothing on the shelf like it. And so the response from retailers, and buyers, and consumers was high right out of the gate. And that just continued to increase.
(06:11):
So that obviously worked in our benefit. And then we were just kind of trying to build the plane as we were flying it. And we navigated a lot of different pitfalls and made a lot of mistakes. Finally, we were able to find this team that of investors that believed in the business and had the funding to put into it. And they supported building out this amazing team of people who are building the business now in such a meaningful way. And so all the pieces finally came together after many years of really hard struggle in having one piece of that but not the other. And it never lined up correctly at the same time.
Nicole (06:59):
That’s from a true entrepreneur. I mean, those are words from a true entrepreneur, and mom turned entrepreneur. I think we don’t give enough credit to that shift in our dialogue. My husband the other day was like, “What’s your title?” And I was like, “Well, I have 12. Let me tell you.” So I think that as I listened to you go through that process, I understand… And I love when you articulated as you were building the plan, as you were flying it. I feel like that more days than not, so that resonates.
(07:31):
And I think even in our homemaking duties, you can feel like that as your kids change or things change in your environment, you’re just constantly trying to get there. So it’s really cool to hear it from a high level perspective of a company that’s in stores. So I actually found you through Costco. I like to go in and tell people what they can buy there versus what you should not buy. I’m trying to be better about, let’s focus on the positives and that they have things.
(07:56):
But you guys have achieved really impressive success at Costco. What do you think contributed most to that growth and how has Costco changed the visibility of the brand?
Megan (08:06):
Yeah. I mean Costco has definitely changed the visibility of the brand. And I think some of us, myself, I will say, and I think there are other team members too who have just been surprised by the amount of brand awareness that happens at Costco. So Costco does a great job for their members to provide what they already want and are already purchasing and then offer up what they don’t even know they want yet. And so they are ahead of the curve much like Jackson’s was which is why they’ve been a great partner because the whole conversation around seed oils and inflammatory seed oils, it’s really taken off in the last 12 to 15 months.
(08:50):
I would say when we were at Expo West in March of 2023, that was the first time we were really hearing a lot of questions around seed oils. And I applaud you for not using a seed oil in your product and hearing that directly from the buyers and the consumers walking around. And it was just even stronger in March of 2024. And so I think for us with Costco, they were an early adopter of that conversation. They really understood that and gave us this opportunity and this partnership with them that has driven such volume for us.
(09:31):
And not just on a revenue basis because that’s significant, but more importantly just in that brand awareness and people finding us there. Going to also their local stores if it’s in between their Costco shopping. But Costco is not just pantry supplying. It used to be where someone is going there once a month or once a quarter to stock up on toilet paper and paper towels and all of those things.
(09:59):
There are weekly shoppers, myself included, who go to Costco because that’s the consumption that’s happening in my house with teenagers and friends and travel. And I’m also going there to look for some new things in addition to all of those really healthy things that I’m buying at my local city market or King Soopers, or Whole Foods, or Sprouts, right?
(10:24):
So the opportunity with them has been significant. And then our ability to sell and meet their standards and meet their requirements on what success looks like in their store and in their business, it’s just really been this perfect storm for us of opportunity and timing.
Nicole (10:46):
I love that. I think so many times I watch a trend what I think can be a trend and then it just takes off. I feel like the seed oil conversation, I would agree the 12 to 15-month window is definitely when I started to have an uptick in — even my followers saying, “But what’s the oil in it or how do you make that? Why do you only use avocado or coconut oil? What is hexane?” There’s so many questions that go into it. But to make a product that is absolutely delicious, I have to hide my chip bags from the kids because I’m, “like I cannot-“
Megan (11:24):
You don’t have to. You can just keep buying more, Nicole.
Nicole (11:27):
Yeah, I’m like, “I’m just going to have to take out a double mortgage or something. I don’t know.” But it brings me to my favorite, which is sour cream. I don’t know. I’m in love with all of them, but can you tell me more about your flavor development process? I think this is unique and every company does something a little bit different. So I’m interested to hear your… How do you come up with flavor development process and how do you land on unique flavors and what drives those?
Megan (11:55):
I will say that I think sour cream is my favorite right now too. It definitely goes through phases of what I am craving and what I like. And the sour cream for me and the sea salt that are in that wavy texture are just punching my ticket right now. I think it’s the texture too, for sure. And it holds that flavor differently, the wavy texture. So for us, it’s such a collaborative process, the flavor development. It involves the entire team, not just kind of from the suggestion level because you never know where you’re going to get a great idea from. And I think the folks that are making the product have a very different perspective than us as sort of my role in the business and the sales team and what they hear from buyers and retailers.
(12:49):
So we look at trends of course, and data around those trends and what types of flavors are trending now, what they see as a prediction, what some of the — even whole foods will put out their food predictions for instance. And so is it sweet? Is it savory? And then if you drill down within those buckets, what are those actual flavors? Like the fiery hot and jalapeno. And so we’ll look at all of that stuff as one of our data points for what we’re going to try.
(13:22):
And then we of course get suggestions internally from our own team that we follow up on that we just play around with. We’ve got a great, I don’t even want to call her a food scientist because that sounds very clinical and it sounds way more formal than what she does because the science around it is obviously trying to create this perfect recipe with the type of oil we’re using, the type of chip. A white chip is very different than a sweet potato chip on a starch basis. And then what’s on trend and then just kind of what works with what the base product is.
(14:01):
So Jordan Amato is the woman on our team who is this flavor guru. And I would rather call her that than a scientist because it is quite an organic process internally as well. And so there is this R&D process that we go through on certainly how we source and where we source the flavors that we’re trying to mix together and the science around keeping the quality with the product and our sampling.
(14:35):
But it is this very collaborative organic process that we hear consumer suggestions, we hear employee suggestions and team member suggestions, and we hear buyer and retailer suggestions as well, and certainly look at the trends and try to create the right mix of all of those.
Nicole (14:54):
You mentioned consumers at the end of there. And so what kind of feedback do you get from consumers? How does that shape your decisions?
Megan (15:03):
We get really great feedback. So we get product feedback like, “I think these were too salty or I had broken chips in my bag.” So that’s all fantastic. We share that with our team. We all know what’s going on. It helps us make a better quality product. And I’d say the overwhelming feedback that we receive is about just support like, “We love your story. We have a restrictive diet in our home. My child has allergies or I have food allergies. Is there any cross-contamination that could be happening in your production?”
(15:38):
So we answer those manufacturing and operational questions. And that’s more just trying to ascertain that there’s not going to be some kind of reaction to our product. The feedback we get is just overwhelmingly supportive around, “Thank you for making a product because we have really strict needs in our home for what we’re able to consume. We love that you’re kind of a David versus Goliath in this salty snack set. Keep on doing what you’re doing because we support you. We want to continue to support you. We are parents with the same type of need in our home, and so we really resonate with your story.”
(16:23):
I’d say they’re really positive and very uplifting feedback emails that we receive and it helps us keep going because those days can be really hard. It’s hard to stop and celebrate the wins and the successes because there’s always something around the corner. And so I think our team has done a really good job and creates a lot of intention around celebrating the success that we’ve had. And the reason why we continue to do it, which is really my son and his legacy. My son ended up passing away from this autoimmune disease and it’s been challenging personally, and it’s been very rewarding professionally to keep this going.
Nicole (17:09):
That’s so beautiful. You’re making me tear up. I think there’s so much to be said for that. This was just something that was very homegrown. It was something that you just said, “Okay, well I’m going to learn about it and figure it out and do this for my kid.” As a mom, that’s our mission in all aspects of their lives, right?
Megan (17:28): Yeah.
Nicole (17:28):
And I can only imagine the value at those late nights as an entrepreneur or early mornings where you’re like, “Oh my gosh, this is so much.” Or the overwhelm. And then to just feel the connection of that mother who was just trying to find the best thing for her kid and now you’re helping so many. And adults, including me. I remember going through the dark tunnel of autoimmune, A, not knowing what I had. I’d almost died. I choked. I have a eosinophilic esophagitis. I had no idea I had it. No one’s looking at it.
(18:00):
They sent me home from the ER with a bunch of medications and said bye. And I was like, “What? I’m a fit, healthy, 30-year-old woman with two kids. I can’t choke again and chance that it doesn’t go the right way.” And I remember feeling like, “There’s nothing out there for me. What do I get to enjoy?” And this idea that food is of enjoyment, not nourishment, I feel like Jackson’s does such a good job of both. It’s nourishing and nurturing in its own story, but then it also has the ability to be enjoyable to eat.
(18:34):
It’s like the best blend of both. And so as woman to woman, entrepreneur to entrepreneur, and mother to mother, I commend you on that. And I thank you for it wholeheartedly. It’s like the one stuff we can bring to school, by the way.
Megan (18:49):
Oh, see, this is the type of feedback we get, Nicole. It’s great. Thank you. You’re doing it live in person.
Nicole (18:56):
I’m doing it live and real, raw and honest. And I think being able to have that and be able to serve the whole class and celebrate my kid’s birthday with potato chips is great with me, okay? That’s better than a cake. We can change the landscape because you provided something that can do that. And I’ll tell you this, every kid looks forward to my kid’s birthday because we provide chips. I will take a video.
Megan (19:23):
So that’s great. I’m glad you’re popular in the class.
Nicole (19:25):
Yes. I was like, “Here’s your candle. You can blow out a bowl of chips. We’re good.” High five.
Megan (19:30): Yes.
Nicole (19:31):
It is a competitive snack industry. You’ve touched on this before. I mean, I grew up in an ingredients home where we had a bunch of ingredients and if you wanted a snack, you put it in a bowl, frozen peas and some garlic salt and maybe something else. I now run a snack home because we are inundated with packages. There’s gummy snacks. And I’m always the one having to check every label. So in a competitive snack industry, what do you think makes Jackson’s stand out the most?
Megan (20:03):
I think it’s a few different things. I think it’s definitely the seed oils and not using seed oils. I think it’s our story and having this very relatable reason why we started the company as well as just continue to provide and recognize what that need is in the market and continue to provide this elevated snacking experience.
(20:28):
So this goes in a little bit to what Jackson’s is looking forward to and what maybe some of our future plans are, but I think we recognize that there are other products that we could put our stamp on and elevate into a different snacking experience and make it this healthy indulgence and guilt-free snack. And that’s some of the things that we’re looking at. Again, trying to combine all those different pieces like data and where’s opportunity, and flavor. Can we actually do something different and elevate this?
(21:14):
I think it’s just part of the brand ethos and identity of what Jackson’s historically has been, and the type of products that we offer, how innovative we’ve been and reactive to what maybe some of our retailer demands are when they want to work with us on an exclusive product. We can turn that around really quickly. We have our own manufacturing plant, which is also one of our differentiators.
(21:42):
It’s a significant size. We’ve been able to grow from the small one to a large one over a two-year period. And being able to make our own product control the quality, control the different types of formats that we’re able to offer, small bags, big bags, all of the variation of that has been part of our innovation, part of what we’re able to do very quickly. So I’d say to maybe catalyze that as three different things, it’s our brand and our mission and the type of products we’ve been able to produce historically and currently.
(22:18):
It’s our own manufacturing plant and what we’re able to offer the market. And then having this unique non-seed oil base that is going to be in every single product that we ever offer. It’s what we’ve always done and we’ll continue to do going forward.
Nicole (22:36):
I love that. Okay, you talked about some things coming up or where this goes, maybe outside of a chip bag. Who knows? But that’s my next question is where do you see Jackson’s taking the snack industry in the next three to five years? And that’s a lofty question and it’s okay if you can’t answer some of that, but what’s the vision of expansion? Or what’s the hope that I have of you expanding this more?
Megan (23:05):
Your own personal hope.
Nicole (23:08): Selfishly.
Megan (23:09):
Yeah, I mean I think it’s maybe what I’ve already talked about a little bit that there are other opportunities in that snack set that we have identified and continue to identify of a product that we’re able to do with what some of our ethos is around a non-seed oil, a great flavor and an elevated offering. So one of the things that we’re launching are just white potato chips in avocado oil. We’re going to do that with our partner who’s Sprouts, who’s been a really fantastic partner for us. That’ll be toward the end of this month and early in February. I don’t want to necessarily put a time on that, but in February at retail with Sprouts. We’re offering those on our Amazon now. And so they should be available too in three different flavors. So that’s really exciting for us to expand into that section of the aisle. And then we’ve got something we’re really excited about that I can’t really share more details about, but something that we’re going to launch mid-year also along the snack kind of portfolio extension. And I guess maybe a good reflection would be that historically we’re called Jackson’s Chips. That’s say what our email has always been like my name at Jackson’s Chips. And we’ve just changed that this week at Snack Jackson’s.
(24:43):
So now we’re thinking of ourselves as this larger snack company in avocado oil, always avocado oil. And what does that look like in the snack set and possibly beyond?
Nicole (24:57): I love that.
Megan (24:57):
So that’s the most I think I can probably share. But I would say any expansion will continue to always combine all of the pieces that I’ve already talked about with a non-seed oil fits with our brand quality ingredients, quality flavor. Sourcing is important to us where we’re getting our ingredients from, where we’re getting our potatoes from. We do a lot of work around who we’re going to partner with and who those suppliers are going to be.
Nicole (25:30):
That’s awesome. Can you talk about what role, sustainability, and ethical sourcing play in your business model? I think that would be really interesting to hear about.
Megan (25:39):
Well, our goal is to be a zero waste facility, and that’s what we continue to strive toward. We recycle our oil and so that’s a big opportunity for us. We do imperfect potatoes. We do imperfect avocados that are where we source our avocado oil from through. And we work with… For us, one of the things that’s really important is the purity of the avocado oil that we’re sourcing as well.
(26:09):
And so we put a lot of work into working with our suppliers, working with a third party in Europe who has different standards than some of the US suppliers that we’ve worked with in the past just in trying to ascertain that the purity of the avocado oil is 100%, it’s not cut with something else. We’re not degrading it through even some of the extraction process and the oil production process that we feel really confident in the work that we’ve done that this party that we work with in Europe to supply our avocado oil has vetted out those suppliers in the way that we find meaningful and need it to be vetted out too.
(26:53):
So that’s some of what’s currently happening. I think the other thing we continue to be interested in is compostable packaging. And it’s very hard with the type of product that we have to feel and understand with 100% certainty that it’s going to maintain the integrity of the product itself. And so we continue to watch that to just see if we can get that packaging to a place that we are confident that our product won’t degrade in it. But that is something that we continue to put as a goal for ourselves as well.
Nicole (27:32):
Yeah. It’s so amazing that the landscape, it’s changing rapidly but too slow at the same time, if you know what I mean. And I pride myself on always being one that finds something before the masses do or have deep dived exactly where you’re sourcing everything before I open a bag and hand it to my kids. It’s part of my life, I guess. I don’t really have a choice. Right?
Megan (27:58): Yeah.
Nicole (27:59):
And when you don’t have a choice, you turn inward and usually something beautiful comes from it, which I’ve learned, although there were many tiers trying recipes and/or cleaning supplies making myself through it all. So I think for me, I’m so encouraged and inspired by the story and how I’m so excited for the next chapter for you guys and what’s coming. I want to have an eagle eye on it. I’m like, “Tell me more. What’s my [inaudible 00:28:28]?” I’m going to be following up, “Hello, it’s me over here.”
Megan (28:30):
Well, we’ll give you a peek under the kimono when the time is right so that you have first visibility.
Nicole (28:38):
I love it. Is there anything else you would want somebody to know about your story or your process in
Jackson’s Chips or snacks at Jackson’s? See how I did that? Got it.
Megan (28:49):
Yeah, I mean, I think we’re just really grateful for the support. We’ve been doing this a long time and as far as doing all this research being ahead of the curve because you had to. You didn’t have a choice. And so when my husband and I were… Even before we started this business when we were just making everything from scratch and very specific around what’s the carb? What’s the protein? What’s the fat? People thought we were crazy and very high maintenance, and over the top. Why do you have to be like this?
(29:23):
I would say this even maybe predates my son’s illness where it was visible and something was happening. So it was hard to live in that space and not just hear that feedback like we were wackos, but what were we going to feed him? Because at the end of the day that was fine. That could bounce off of us, but we had some real needs and some very urgent needs of like, “He needs to gain weight. What can we feed him? What do we need to make? And how do we even figure all of this out?”
(29:55):
And so I guess I would say for Jackson’s now, it feels really good to have so many more people sitting in this space with us and valuing why we’re using these ingredients. Because they’re not cheap. It’s not like a commodity as far as the type of oil we’re using, the type of potato. Sweet potato costs more. Avocado oil costs more. So we are maintaining this integrity on the ingredients that we’re using at a kind of profitability cost.
(30:29):
And so I think it just feels really good that there are more people entering this space, having this conversation, asking these questions, and then turning and finding us, and supporting us, and doing it for multiple reasons. They might find us because they’re looking for an avocado oil chip, but then they hear about the inspiration of my son, or they find us because they are looking for a certain flavor and it just punches that ticket. And then they realize there’s more to this brand than just putting out a potato chip and a sweet potato chip, and now a regular potato chip.
(31:06):
And so I guess I would just like to say thank you because we are a small company. We work really hard and we value that. It’s not this nameless, faceless corporation. It’s real people working there, making this product, sourcing it, selling it, all of those pieces of the business. And we’re all really grateful for the support.
Nicole (31:31):
Well, we thank you because in all honesty, not a lot of people are going to go through that process or be able to hold their integrity once they start looking at numbers and margins. And it’s a side of the business we don’t really talk about, but it’s part of it. It’s the same as I always say, I’m like, “I’m a real human being, even though I’m all on your phone. I have a full life and I have my kids and I’m the one in my DMs. I won’t give up the integrity of me being the one that answers you because that’s what it’s about for me, right? It’s about community.”
(31:59):
And I think at the end of the day, probably help. If you can help one person have a more enjoyable life or bring joy to them, even one, it says so much. And in the legacy of your son and just as your heart as a mom, just to know that you’re able to help other people navigate a really sticky area. Snacks are a sticky area, even if you are just buying whatever you want and throwing it at your kid. They just are. And this just creates such a talk.
(32:33):
It is funny. I will tell you one of my kids does not love french fries. I know. It’s shocking. And so there’s always this ask for Jackson’s when I’m making chicken and a vegetable and I have french fries that I make. I don’t use seed oils, all those things. Luckily, the frozen market has kind of come around to that. There are one or two brands out there that have done what you guys are doing, which is great. But it’s always so funny when I’m home making them and my kid is like, “No, just the Jackson’s over there.” I’m like, “Okay, that’ll go.”
(33:09):
So we’re always eating it. It’s just so cute. So know that you’re at our table happily. And I’m so grateful that we were able to chat today. It definitely brings that home to me. I think that this is the beauty of what we do is people who are passionate about just helping others have a better, cleaner life and giving them something to feel good about and bring joy to is huge. So thank you for being one of those. And thank you for taking time to chat with me today. I loved every minute.
Megan (33:34):
Thank you, Nicole. It’s been great talking to you. And thanks for your support. It’s really heartwarming for me to hear people saying, “Jackson’s Jackson’s, Jackson’s,” because that still resonates with me as my son and his name, and that keeps him very much alive. And so I’m really grateful for that and I love to hear it. So thanks for this conversation. It’s been fantastic.