Pine Bluffs’ Timothy Michaud recently returned from a Scandinavian walkabout with big ideas for reviving the Rocky Mountain Snacks company of his youth.
Along for the ride was Rocky, a stuffed potato head wearing a blue cowboy hat — the company’s new mascot.
Rocky Mountain Snacks is on a fast track right now, aiming to begin making chips in March 2027, with bags potentially reaching stores in April or May.
Michaud’s wife, Alisha, the company’s CEO, tucked Rocky into her carry-on luggage before leaving Wyoming. The potato cowboy popped out for photographs at various Norwegian and Swedish chip factories.
Behind all the playful pictures was a serious purpose — learning from businesses that buy the family’s Wyoming-built potato chip equipment.
Michaud and other members of Pine Bluffs-based JD Manufacturing team were primarily there to install equipment and visit customers. But for Michaud, who is also president of Rocky Mountain Snacks, it was a also chance to pick the industry's brains.
“We can go in and look at how they do the operational part,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “How they pick their seasonings, run the company, the way it’s structured — all of that. We can learn a whole bunch that goes toward Rocky Mountain Snacks’ startup because we have an in.”
It was also a chance to sample lots of chips and scout flavors they might someday introduce.
“Truffle flavor is one that I’d really like, which you can do with completely natural ingredients,” Michaud said. “You literally powderize truffle mushrooms.”
But the initial flavors will be much tamer, he added.
“You don’t want to go with too much weird stuff right off the bat, or you’ll struggle with sales,” Michaud said. “Half the potato chip sales in the U.S. are strictly salted chips, and then almost a third after that are barbecue.”
Rocky Mountain Snacks will start with both of those flavors in its lineup as well as tangy dill.
“You have to make sure you’re filling staples first,” Michaud said. “Then you can start expanding into funny stuff like beef-flavored chips and ketchup, Thanksgiving flavors and all sorts of weird stuff.”
Revival of A Dream
The Scandinavia trip was also a fun way to introduce Rocky, a fluffy potato head they hope customers will come to know and love.
“He’s mostly mine,” Alisha told Cowboy State Daily with a chuckle. “He lives in my carry-on luggage and he goes where I go.”
Rocky was a last-minute addition to the couple’s packing list, arriving just one week before the big trip.
Reviving Rocky Mountain Snacks, on the other hand, is something Michaud has wanted to do since childhood.
His father, Dennis, and uncle Jerry helped run the original company.
“When Dennis and Jerry quit Rocky Mountain Snacks, they moved full-time into manufacturing equipment for making snack food,” Michaud said. “JD Manufacturing now services 16 different countries and has well over 100 fryers all over the planet. So they launched a really successful manufacturing facility here in Pine Bluffs and I grew up in it.”
Growing up in the business and learning about his family history gave Michaud “a bug” for reviving Rocky Mountain Snacks. He and his partners re-founded the company in January.
“Because of the expertise we have manufacturing the equipment and teaching people all over the world how to do it, it made it a pretty easy thing to segue into,” he said. “And it also provides us with a fully functional test facility attached to our JD Manufacturing operation.”
Rocky Mountain Snacks is part of a 40,000-square-foot campus that will also include an expanded facility for JD Manufacturing and a separate aircraft-parts business. That company, SMT Aero Structures, was co-founded by Michaud’s brother in 2020 with Steven Trumper.
Rocky Mountain Snacks expects to begin with three to five employees and potentially grow to around 20 within five years. Dennis said JD Manufacturing could add 10 workers to its current staff of 24 and estimated the aircraft-parts business could add another dozen.
Potato Power For Farmers
Farmers looking to turn their own potatoes into chips have helped build JD Manufacturing’s worldwide business — and in turn helped make the revival of Rocky Mountain Snacks possible.
Making and selling a finished snack gives growers a way to keep more of the retail dollar.
Dennis Michaud pointed to customers in Ireland and the United Kingdom as examples of farm-based ventures that have developed successful chip brands. JD Manufacturing is also working with an Oregon farming operation that is preparing to install its first fryer in the next month or two.
Rocky Mountain Snacks will be using JD Manufacturing’s equipment to make its chips. While the two businesses are separate entities, JD Manufacturing is providing the financial backing to build out the chip plant.
In return, Rocky Mountain Snacks will give JD a working production line where it can test machinery.
Millions of Wyoming Potatoes
Rocky Mountain Snacks expects to buy 3 million pounds of potatoes in its first year, with the team estimating that Wyoming could supply roughly half.
“We’re going to source as much as we can from Wyoming, because our roots are Wyoming,” said Cole Lambert, Rocky Mountain Snacks vice president.
Some local growers have already expressed interest in growing potatoes for the company, Lambert added. But, given Wyoming’s short growing season, keeping the factory supplied with fresh potatoes will also mean looking beyond state lines.
Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska and South Dakota are among the places the company expects to source potatoes as it builds its grower network.
“We’re going to do everything we can to stay as regional as we can,” Lambert said.
The Scandinavian trip even offered a model for those relationships. On the Swedish island of Gotland, the Michauds visited Gotlandschips, where island-grown potatoes help give the finished product a distinctly local identity.
Dennis Michaud noted that Rocky Mountain Snacks once sourced most of its potatoes from the Cowboy State.
“When Jerry and I were involved in Rocky Mountain Snacks, we sourced almost all of our potatoes from growers in Pine Bluffs,” he said.
The company’s initial sales push will focus on Wyoming and Colorado’s Front Range, with grocery stores and gas stations among the places where Lambert wants customers to find their chips. The team has also discussed producing chips for export to Canada.
Lambert stressed that the spring launch dates are targets, with a firmer schedule expected in January or February.
Tourism In Mind
The Michauds don’t just want people to buy their chips, though. They also want people to come watch them being made.
The new factory will include a retail area and a windowed viewing corridor where visitors can watch potatoes become chips that then move through the bagging line.
“We’re going to invite school-kid field trips and just people will be able to walk in during business hours and have a look,” Alisha said. “We’re in the same park with the distillery and we’re hoping to add to their business with another tourist stop in Pine Bluffs.”
The team has discussed ways to encourage visitors to stop at other local businesses, potentially through discounts.
“There’s been some talk of working with one of the local restaurants as well as like a town-wide tourism, you know, buy something here, get a discount there,” she added. “Make it a full day here to experience the town. We want to work together as a team to bring tourism to town.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
