Better Made in Michigan: The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip

by Karen Dybis

For many, Detroit is the crunch capital of the world. More than forty local chip companies once fed the Motor Citys never-ending appetite for salty snacks, including New Era, Everkrisp, Krun-Chee, Mello Crisp, Wolverine and Vita-Boy. Only Better Made remains. From the start, the brand was known for light, crisp chips that were near to perfection. Discover how Better Made came to be, how its chips are made and how competition has shaped the industry into what it is today. Bite into the flavorful history of Michigans most iconic chip as author Karen Dybis explores how Detroit chipreneurs rose from garage-based businesses to become snack food royalty.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Food

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2015

About the author

Michigan native Karen Dybis is a metro Detroit writer who has blogged for Time magazine, worked the business desk at the Detroit News and jumped on breaking stories for a variety of publications. She is the author of four books: "The Ford-Wyoming Drive-In: Cars, Candy & Canoodling in the Motor City" and "Better Made in Michigan: The Salty Story of Detroit's Best Chip," "The Witch of Delray" and "Secret Detroit," which will be released in April 2018.

Reviews

[Abby Rubin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love potato chips, or Detroit, or Better Made chips specifically, this book will be great for you! Dybis clearly loves Detroit and is passionate about it's success, as this well-researched book shows. There is great pride in this family run business. While the narrative is mostly chronological, it jumps around a bit and there are a lot of names to keep track of, but it's well worth your time, even if you will be craving potatoes by the end.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book describes the growth and decline of the potato chip industry in the Detroit area from the early 20th century to today. As the title and the cover both suggest, much of the focus is on the Better Made brand that is still surviving and producing snack foods from their factory in Detroit. Much of the history is focused on the families involved, and a large number of the photos in the book are family photos.

I am a big fan of Better Made chips, which is what instantly attracted me to this book. However, although the book was somewhat interesting, I never found it hard to put down. Half homage, half history, but nowhere near as good as a handful of Better Made Barbecue chips. I think it's an "okay" read, which by Goodreads' definition is 2 stars.

[Fishface · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fun, Interesting Read

This book is about a number of things I love: funny little corners of history, Detroit, and Better Made potato chips. Full of interesting facts, vintage photos, and pithy quotes from great minds concerning potatoes. You really ought to read this one.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick, solid read on the history of chip making in Detroit. It includes some history of the general industry in the US and mild drama about the running and ownership of the company.

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better Made are the best! Nobody does it like them! Fabulous to read the history!

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched history of Detroit's local potato chip maker - one of the few local chip makers left in the country.

[Bruce Gleba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about Detroit. Lived here forever and didn't realize some of the history.

[Carol Plessinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite chip

Loved this story about the origins and history of my favorite potato chip. Wish they sold them where I live!

[MrsRenee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as a gift from my son. What a great read! I really enjoyed this. Very well done.

[Macomfort · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little broader than I expected, almost a treatise on every major snack foods supplier to ever work in Detroit. a great read, fascinating content, and let's be honest. who doesn't love Better Made?

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Detroit potato chip.

[Read It · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I child, Better Made was King. As a Adult Better Made is still King. Great Metro Detroit and Made in Michigan Potato Chip. RED HOTS are my favorite. Great history on history of the potato chip, Better Made and the many rivals like New Era, Best Made, Eagle Chips, Pringles, Frito Lays and some local Detroit know chip makers from the past. Talks about chips are delicate and not wise to travel over 200-300 miles. Talks about the history of Better Made and some of it rivals like New Era which later became Kar's of Madison Heights. Talks about how Budweiser flooded the market with Eagle Snack and still survived. Better Made invested it's money for tough times, always paid on time and always in cash. Perfect credit rating with its vendors helps it to save money and weather storm during bad times and when The Family had to squabble that it almost found. Talks about the Potato Chipper Magazine and The Potato Chip Institute, which i found was cool. Just an amazing book and so much knowledge and great pics for a nice read on a spare time or day. .

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an East-Sider I really appreciated this book. It's a short and quick history about the best potato chip the Mitten has to offer. Starting with the founders of Better Made and how they had a traveling truck, selling paper bags of their chips on corners in a small cart to the growth of the Better Made factory and the symbol it still is in our city. It does cover the growth and fall or overtake of other popular chip brands and manages to make the history interesting. For those not familiar with Detroit, it might not have the same effect, however I loved hearing about familiar city staples, described from a different time. At it's heart, Better Made is a family company and it was warming to read about how they grew their business into an empire. Very interesting and easy to follow...even enjoyable! Recommended to everyone who enjoys the salty crunch of Better Made. <3