Kettle Foods

“We had to keep expanding the factory and buying more equipment, and those were big investments, but we were able to you know, we had a small banking relationship, but largely we were self-funded in our growth, which was pretty amazing, actually.”

“Yeah, I didn't you know, we were, Tim and I were given a small incentive to be advisors for a year, but we both sat in on the first conference call with the Operator that Lion Capital had brought in to oversee the company, a Scotsman, very dynamic, forceful in…”

“Yes, we were, by that point, you know, we're doing about a hundred million dollars in sales scaling and scaled, but Tim and I were the board of directors.”

“Yeah, we had grown the business by 50%, and as a board, we agreed that if a certain dollar amount offer came in, then we would consider it.”

“By the way, in the early 2000, Cameron was looking for a way to make sure that all that oil used to make kettle chips didn't go to waste. So he funded a biodiesel startup in Salem that still exists today, and he did it with another old hippie who's also a voca…”

“Well, if this guy can make such a splash and be in the Wall Street Journal and have this kind of cult following, and he's bringing his potatoes all the way from Oregon, and I'm based in Oregon, I can do this.”