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Show NOVEMBER 4, 1986 A Clover Club Foods: Tasting success for 48 years ' By TOM HARALDSEN In the 1930s, KAYSVILLE Hod Sanders fell in love with one of Americas favorite foods--th- e happened shortly afpotato ter he graduated with a business degree from Utah State, and took a job in Bakersfield, Calif., selling for the Blue Bird Potato Chip Comchip. It ; pany. A few years later, with the help and support of his true love, his Wife Clover, Hod would convert that feeling of fondness for the chip, and his good business sense, into creating Clover Club Foods. Today, Clover Club remains one of Kaysvilles most admired neighbors and employers, as well as a sweet story of success. ' Hod Sanders was born in Farmington in 1900, but grew up in Kaysville. The son of a farmer and contractor, his mother was left alone to raise seven children when he was just five years old. He learned to work early, and he loved athletics. During his years at Davis High, Hod was a star in football, basketball and track for the Darts. His immediate ambition after high school was to go to college, but family finances prevented that. So he worked for four years to save enough money for his education. He enrolled at Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, where he was captain of both the Aggies football and basketball teams. And his work-ethi- c allowed him to work in a hardware store in Logan owned by former Utah Senator Wallace Bennett. He graduated from USAC in 1927, but not before meeting and falling in love with Clover Johnson, the daughter of a university music professor who was in charge of girl athletics at the college. Hod and Clover left Logan for Hyrum, where his first job was as a high school coach. A few years later, after spending time in Bakersfield and Sacramento with Blue Bird, Hod's burning post-colle- desire to be in business for himself was more than he could stand. Using a $1,000 building and loan policy, and driving an old Plymouth, Hod, Clover and their first son, along with Clovers cherished piano, came home to Utah, and Kaysville. The last place to start up in business, after you leave it, is your home town, Hod would say some 15 years later. But in 1938, it was a risk worth taking. The country was just emerging from the Depression, and optimism was running high. The Sanders traded the piano for two months rent on a small vacant automobile showroom with an apartment above. The Plymouth was traded for an old second-hanpanel truck. Hod devised a crude, but workable, automatic potato slicer, and two cleansed oil drums were used to soak the starch out of 100 pounds of potatoes. Their business had begun. People placed me in the same category as a man running a popcorn machine," he later recalled. My family must have figured we would be eating off of them that winter. d But on a warm day that fall, Hod in the truck, with every dime we had tied up in potato chips in the back. He sold out the supply rather quickly, and used the money to buy more potatoes. Clovers job was to do the cooking, and the couple worked days in the beginning. But business became good, and the company grew. Still, the standards for quality remained the same, and even today, Clover still goes to the Kaysville operation on a daily basis. Competition was brisk in the late 30s. When Clover Club was started, there were 27 companies making potato chips in the Intermountain area. In each store he approached, there were six or seven brands already. So Hod specialized in areas where chip salesmen were never seen, placing large started out racks in the stores himself, and being careful that his bags were big and fluffy, and sealed for freshness. He opened territories that were brand new, and sold chips year round, when most of the makers in the area were closed for the winter. He sensed even then that potato chips would become a staple for lunches, not just a party food. By 1940, the success began to mount. The Sanders now had four trucks in their fleet, and sales in the Ogden-to-Sa- lt Lake market area were brisk. Hods purchase of an automatic chip cooker, for $16,000, proved a good move. Now the firm could produce product at a rate of 150 pounds per hour, not much compared to the current rate of 3000 pounds an hour, but astronomical in the Photo by Jim Haskett CHIPS ARE STILL sorted out and inspected every step c the way, as these dip chips are, The product is packaged sti warm from the cooker, and shipped to Western states 1 1 ment remained basically local. Clover Club may have the most loyal employees of any employer in the state, as the longevity of most of those working there today re mains impressive. What started as a dream for Hod and Clover today is one of the largest snack food companies in the country. Facilities are operated today in Kaysville, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Albuquerque. Products are sold in 11 western states, and sales annually are in the millions. But most of all, Clover Club remains a tribute to Hod and Clover, two young entrepreneurs who wanted to be their own bosses, and, who succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. 1940's. During World War II, government rationing on the amount of vegetable oil snack foods produced hurt the companys growth, but the post-Wa- r boom made up for it. In 1947, the third Kaysville factory was opened, one built especially for potato chip manufacturing. In 1948, Clover Club moved into Idaho, its first out of state venture. With six sales routes and distribution spanning from Santaquin, Utah to Boise, the company en- joyed gross sales that year of $600,000. In 1950, the market expanded to Arizona, and two years later, plants were opened in Boise and Phoenix. The Kaysville plant was eventually expanded again, and sales territories grew. Smaller potato chip companies were ac- quired in the late 1950s and early 60s, and in 1966, a tie-i- n with the Walt Disney of the movie Bambi was a big success for Clover Club. All the while, Hod and Clover, and their family, remained involved and watched over the growth. When Hod died in 1980, Clover became Chairman of the Board, and their son Robert V. TODAY CLOVER SANDERS serves as Chairman of the Board, and still visits the plant almost daily to oversee production. Here she holds one of the earliest bags used. Sanders became president. In 1983, Borden, Inc. purchased Clover Club Foods, but manage- IN THE EARLY years, Clover and Hod, the couple at right, visited food shows throughout the west, displaying Clover Club products. Photo by Jim Haskett TODAY CLOVER CLUB Foods produces and packages a number of products in its Kaysville operation, including potato products under different label names. Photo by Jim Haskett FOR La Famous tortilla chips at PRODUCTION LINE Kaysvilles Clover Club Foods is always busy, as the popu- larity of nacho products increases. |