Magic City snack firm develops `energy chip' Wednesday, August 15, 2007 RUSSELL HUBBARDNews staff writer Birmingham-based Golden Enterprises, maker of Golden Flake snacks, said Tuesday it has come up with the industry's first "energy chip" for sports enthusiasts and energy-drink imbibers. "The fastest growing categories in food are the energy-related products," Golden Flake marketing director Julie McLaughlin said. "We thought what could be better than an energy snack?" NRG Phoenix Fury Potato Chips are shipping now to convenience stores. They are described by the company as "hot," and are made with caffeine and B-vitamins familiar to drinkers of energy and sports-related beverages. They also include taurine, a compound some people tout as an antidote to muscle fatigue. Golden Enterprises, a small publicly traded company whose shares are controlled mostly by employees, retirees and Birmingham's Bashinsky family, hopes the new chips will help it in its nonstop David-and-Goliath battle with snack giant Frito-Lay, a unit of soft-drink maker PepsiCo. PepsiCo has a market value of $109 billion; Golden Enterprises' is $36 million. That's why fresh ideas are important. The new chips took 18 months to develop, McLaughlin said, and were thought up by a company salesman. But she said it took months to perfect the recipe, perform taste tests and settle on packaging and advertising strategies. McLaughlin said the company plans to introduce another NRG Phoenix Fury flavor in the fall, and begin selling through supermarkets as well as convenience stores. The new chips will be made at the Golden Flake plant in Birmingham, where about 350 people turn out a full line of chips, corn snacks and other goodies. Golden Flake rolls out about eight new ideas a year, between new products and new flavors for old products, McLaughlin said. Recently, baked potato crisps and red pepper-flavored pork cracklings have been big hits, she said. "The red pepper crackling strips have skyrocketed to the very top of our product list," McLaughlin said. E-mail: [email protected]