Tim’s Cascade Style Potato Chips began in 1986 with Tim Kennedy and his family in a makeshift 15,000-square-foot facility in Auburn, Washington. With primarily used equipment, they began by hand-stirring, with special rakes, small batches of thick-sliced sliced potatoes in square-shaped kettles—spiced by hand, and packaged in Tim’s signature red and white striped bag. Then Tim himself went out to local convenience stores and gave them samples to try. It wasn’t long before he had developed a cult-like following of fans anxious to find out what flavor Tim was coming up with next.
In 1988, Tim’s was named “the best potato chip in Seattle.” Since then, Tim’s has continued to be recognized with top taste awards from Esquire magazine and The American Culinary Institute. The company still continues to receive fan mail from people all over the world.
Yahoo Food recognized Tim’s as one of the country’s most beloved snacks, saying, “Every region of America has local potato chips they’ll drive the extra mile for, and because we don’t want you to make a fatal deli purchase on your next road trip, we put together a field guide to some of the most important or interesting local snack brands across the nation.”