Cameron Healy
Cameron Healy founded Kettle Chips with a $10,000 loan and a unique kettle-cooked process. He launched in the UK first - a risky move - before expanding across the US, where Kettle became the top natural chip. Healy also founded Kona Brewing, a craft beer brand that struggled before succeeding.
Cameron Healy's Bio
Cameron Healy is the founder of Kettle Foods and Kona Brewing Company, the entrepreneur behind one of America's most recognizable potato chip brands and Hawaii's longest-running craft brewery. He founded the N. S. Khalsa Company - named after his Sikh name, Nirbhao Singh Khalsa - in Salem, Oregon in 1977, producing Kettle Chips in 1982.
Before building Kettle Foods, Healy was a turban-wearing Sikh entrepreneur living communally in 1970s Salem, Oregon, his days beginning at 3 a.m. with two and a half hours of group meditation. That countercultural background shaped the person who would later build a food brand on all-natural ingredients at a time no competitor was thinking that way.
Under Healy's leadership, Kettle Foods grew from a small regional producer into the largest natural potato chip brand in the United States. He opened a UK factory in Norwich in 1988 and installed the largest solar array in the Pacific Northwest at the Salem plant in 2003. He sold Kettle Foods to Lion Capital in 2006 for an estimated $280 million to $320 million; the company later passed through Diamond Foods and Snyder's-Lance before Campbell Soup acquired it in 2018.
Healy also founded Kona Brewing Company in 1994 with his son Spoon Healy in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Kona grew into Hawaii's longest-running craft brewery, ranked 14th among U.S. craft brewers by 2009. In 2020, Kona Brewing Hawaii separated into an independent operation under PV Brewing Partners focused on the local Hawaii market.
Career Timeline
1972 — Communal life in Salem, Oregon
Living communally as a Sikh in Salem, Oregon with 3 a.m. wake-ups and extended group meditation.
1977 — Founded N. S. Khalsa Company
Founded natural foods company named after his Sikh name, Nirbhao Singh Khalsa.
1982 — First Kettle Chips produced at Kettle Foods
Produced the first all-natural, hand-cooked potato chips in Salem, Oregon.
1988 — Opened UK branch in Norwich at Kettle Foods
Established a UK branch in a converted shoe factory in Norwich, England after a motorcycle trip with his son.
1994 — Founded Kona Brewing Company
Co-founded Kona Brewing Company with his son Spoon Healy in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
2003 — Installed largest solar array in Pacific Northwest at Kettle Foods
Kettle Foods installed the largest solar array in the Pacific Northwest at its Salem plant.
2006 — Sold Kettle Foods to Lion Capital
Sold Kettle Foods to British private equity group Lion Capital for an estimated $280 million to $320 million.
2009 — Kona Brewing ranked 14th among US craft brewers at Kona Brewing Company
Ranked 14th in sales among approximately 1,450 US craft brewers per the Brewers Association.
2018 — Campbell Soup acquired Kettle Foods
Campbell Soup Company acquired Snyder's-Lance, bringing Kettle Foods under its ownership.
2020 — Kona Brewing Hawaii became independent
Kona Brewing Hawaii separated as an independent brewery under PV Brewing Partners, focused exclusively on the local Hawaii market.
