Guy’s Snacks is on the attack, literally, for more market share

Yes, the 73-year-old Guy’s Snacks is still headquartered in the Kansas City metro — in Overland Park, to be specific — where the late Guy Caldwell started his peanut-roasting business in 1938. The company has had a roller-coaster history since food giant Borden purchased the business in 1979, attempting to go head-to-head with snack-food goliath Frito-Lay — a conglomerate that’s older and much more powerful than little ol’ Guy’s.

Borden sold off the Guy’s brand in 1994; Guy’s filed bankruptcy in 2001. The company, best-known for its barbecue-flavored chips (one of 10 potato-chip products manufactured under the Guy’s label), was purchased by local entrepreneur Jack Joslyn in 2006. Although Joslyn and his wife, Janine, are divorcing, Janine is currently running the company. And it’s time, she says, for the regional chip to be dragged into the 21st century.