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Oprah's touch Is like gold.
Detroit Friends Potato Chips of Detroit, a little-known company that produces thick-cut snacks, has landed on the Oprah's Favorite Things list for the holidays in O, the Oprah Magazine. The company has about 10 employees and is set up to be half-nonprofit
"We're not in any big stores or anything — which makes it even more miraculous," Mike Wimberley, who founded the company in 2014 on Detroit's east side near Van Dyke and Forest, tells Susan Tompor of the Free Press.
The shout-out, Tompor reports, has resulted in a burst of sales via Amazon.com at $35 for eight bags and a wooden gift crate, plus $10 shipping. In stores, a 1.7-ounce bag sells for $2.50; the 3-ounce bag sells for $3.50 and a 7-ounce bag sells for $6.
It all began when Wimberly wanted to turn some vacant lots into urban farms to grow potatoes, Tompor writes. But it ended up it wasn't a great money maker, so they turned to producing chips. They experimented and at first the chips weren't very tasty, Tompor reports. But they improved.
The company site says:
Once upon a time the Hope District bustled with work that created wealth, dignity, and optimism. Residents and workers were warned that these economic boom times were threatened by global competition and complacency but they did not take heed.
Because of that, things began to decline. Consequently, residents and workers lost wealth, dignity, and optimism. Until one day our community came together and created Detroit Friends Potato Chips food product as a way to add new purpose to vacant lots inside of the Hope District which in turn created opportunities for new employment that has created wealth, work, and helped to regain our dignity.
