If you live in Chicago, you've likely tried the famous Chicago dog, a slice of deep dish pizza and an Italian beef sandwich.
But have you ever tried those flavors on a potato chip?
"What I do is take Chicago's famous flavors and put them onto potato chips for all of Chicago and beyond to enjoy," said Laura Gardner, founder of Local Style Chips.
Gardner said the idea was born during a trip to Asia when she was trying shrimp and Kobe beef flavored chips.
"I had this reverberating thought that Chicago has the best food in the world," she said. "Why don't we have our flavors on potato chips?"
And when Gardner was unexpectedly laid off from her corporate job a year ago, she knew it was time to bring her vision to life.
The first step: selecting Chicago's most iconic flavors.
"Chicago has the trifecta of food, which is the Chicago style hot dog, Italian beef and deep dish pizza," she said. "So, this is really where our R&D journey began."
So, Gardner enlisted the help of spice experts and a team she called her "Crunch Crew" to sample several versions of the chips.
She said much of this crew consisted of family members, including her two daughters.
"My house was kind of filled with all this seasoning dust everywhere," she said. "We were trying different formulas and trying different iterations. And it took about a dozen iterations to really land the plane on our first three flavors."
And after perfecting the product, it was time to get the the chips onto the shelves.
Gardner said she went the old-school route when it came to pitching the chips to various Chicago stores.
"I would just show up at my favorite delis and markets unannounced," she said. "I'd have the chips in my arm, and I'd say, 'Hi, my name's Laura' and 'Is your owner here?'"
And that strategy worked. In fact, Gardner's first customer was born out of a spontaneous interaction with Chris Zucchero, the owner of Chicago's beloved Mr. Beef.
Gardner said Zucchero tried the chips on the spot and loved them and asked Gardner if he could introduce her to the catering manager for FX’s "The Bear."
"A couple days later, I got a phone call from the person who manages all the catering on set," she said. "And that team was my very first paying customer of Local Style Chips."
Gardner said the cast and crew loved the chips, and she even had the chance to visit the set herself.
"It was a pinch me moment to be a part at all of anything happening with 'The Bear,'" she said. "It's one of my absolute favorite shows, and it was just such an honor to to be there."
On April 3 of this year, Local Style Chips officially hit the shelves of local delis, corner stores and markets.
She said the response from the city was "overwhelming."
"We built the chips because we knew Chicago would like them," she said. "What I didn't see coming was that Chicago would love them, and the response has been such open arms and such a warm welcome from the city."
She said she attributes much of the success to the commitment to being a "local affair."
"The components to the product, the bag, the chips," she said. "We're sourcing all of that around Chicago, like 90 mile radius of Chicago, and as much as we can, we're using Illinois potatoes."
She said the chips are a "love letter to Chicago" and hopes others experience the "nostalgia, hometown pride and delicious taste" she worked so hard to create.
"I think we have so much to offer as a city, and that when you eat a bag of Local Style Chips, you can really feel proud that Chicago is doing it, and our food is inside these chips."
You can find Local Style Chips at a store near you here.