Keya Snacks is relaunching with the introduction of a Black Salt potato chip and revamped Bombay Spice variety. (Photos courtesy Joey Wharton Photos/Keya Snacks)
A locally based potato chip company is rolling out a new flavor as part of its brand relaunch.
Richmond-based Keya Snacks this week is unveiling a Black Salt variety of its bagged chips as well as introducing newly repackaged and tweaked Bombay Spice flavor, which the company has sold for several years.
The snacks are expected to be available on local store shelves starting Friday.
Company founder Keya Wingfield said the Black Salt flavor was developed as an accessible entry point for customers who might be intimidated by the 29-spice Bombay chips. The masala blend of the Bombay flavor features garlic, cumin and dried mango powder, among other spices.
Wingfield said the new chips, flavored with black salt that originates from the Indian subcontinent, have a tangy taste similar to a salt and vinegar chip.
The relaunch has been a couple years in the making. Keya Snacks formerly hand-made and packaged its kettle-style chips but more recently hired a Pennsylvania-based contractor to cook and package its products so it can grow its operations. The company also slightly tweaked the Bombay flavor to make it more scalable in a way Wingfield said maintains a consistent quality.
“To meet demand and to scale we’re partnering with a co-packer. We spent the last two years developing a scalable spice blend,” she said. “We did not change the recipe too much. It has stayed what it is, but we formulated our own blend.”
The company’s new products are expected to be available initially in about 10 local grocery stores, including Ellwood Thompson’s, Stella’s Grocery and Belmont Butchery.
The chips come in two sizes – a 6-ounce family size and 1.5-ounce snack size – which have an expected retail price of about $5.50 and $2.50, respectively.
Formerly known as Keya & Co., the company previously offered its chips in local stores but put a pause on distribution ahead of its relaunch.
Wingfield declined to comment on the investment made in the relaunch. She financed the project with $20,000 awarded through her participation in the Lighthouse Labs business accelerator program in 2023, as well as an undisclosed amount raised in a friends-and-family capital round.
Keya Wingfield
Wingfield declined to share how many bags of potato chips have been manufactured as part of the relaunch.
Looking forward, Wingfield plans to grow the company with more chip flavors and different snack products.
“The dream is to expand across multiple categories,” she said.
Wingfield was born in Mumbai, India, and moved to Richmond as a young adult nearly 20 years ago. Her company’s Bombay Spice chip was inspired by Wingfield’s efforts to introduce her husband to her Indian culture. One day she shook a bit of her personal spice blend, which she used with various foods as a homesickness remedy, onto her husband’s favorite snack – potato chips – and they proved a hit.
What was a family snack became an enterprise when demand for Wingfield’s custom desserts business dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic. She pivoted to sales of to-go Indian meals and added the spiced potato chips to orders as a way to thank people for their purchases.
It didn’t take long for customers to start asking how to buy the chips, and in 2021 Wingfield launched the Bombay Spice chips as a retail product.
Keya Snacks is the latest name for her food business, which launched in 2010 as custom dessert-maker Candy Valley Cake Co. The company, which has one employee in addition to Wingfield, operates out of a warehouse in Ashland.
We’ve had Masala potato chips here from a large company for several years. Good luck to this local company.
Congrats Keya! Can’t wait to get a bag!
So exciting! Best of luck to this amazing woman with incredible culinary skills!