La Jolla entrepreneur teams up with Wyland
By Elizabeth Schneider
As Terry Kraszewski, CEO and co-founder of Whale Tails tortilla chips, talks about her product from behind the counter of Ocean Girl, her La Jolla Shores surf shop, it is clear that she has a serious passion for the ocean.
So when it came time to choose the art for her two new flavors, Wyland — the world-renowned marine artist and environmentalist — was the perfect choice.
Terry Kraszewski, CEO and co-founder of Whale Tails and owner of Ocean Girl, and Wyland show off the new packaging he created for her line of tortilla chips. Courtesy
“I was trying to find a way to work with the most famous marine artist in the world,” Kraszewski said. “Wyland is called the Michelangelo of the sea — he’s my favorite.”
The partnership will feature one of Wyland’s famous seascapes on each of the three flavors of Whale Tails: the newly released Hawaiian barbecue will feature “Dawn of Creation,” the new blue corn flavor will feature “Orca Journey” and the original yellow corn will feature “Hawaii Endangered Species.”
The rich colors and details which have made Wyland’s work so successful are also characteristics which make for an ideal, eye-catching graphic.
“Our merchandisers and grocers are so excited because this packaging just jumps out at you,” Kraszewski said. “We’re thrilled to be associated with him.”
The partnership, however, goes far deeper than art. Both Whale Tails and Wyland have always held fast to their goals of, as the Wyland foundation mission statement describes it: “promoting, protecting, and preserving the world’s ocean, waterways, and marine life.”
In order to pursue this shared aim, Kraszewski has announced that she will donate 10 percent of the profits from the new bags of chips to the Wyland foundation.
“The more I learned about Wyland, the more I found out we’re doing exactly the same thing: education,” Kraszewski said. “That’s the key to making a difference: teaching children to be good stewards of the sea.”
Steve Creech, the vice president of Wyland, says that the revenue raised from the chips sales will primarily go towards their “clean water mobile learning center.” This program, which is currently located at the San Diego County Fair, travels to schools across the nation to educate children about “urban runoff, habitat destruction and the importance of collaboratively managing water as a shared resource.”
This commitment to ocean life has also been integral to both the product and the mission of Whale Tails since its inception in 2006. Whale Tails began in Ocean Beach as a stovetop experiment after a day of surfing, when Kraszewski and her co-founders realized that the anatomy of a whale’s tail would also lend itself to the perfect tortilla chip.
“The same shape that allows whales, weighing over a ton, to move through the water is also a natural shape for loading up a couple of scoops of grilled pineapple/mango salsa or perhaps a mound of fresh guacamole,” the company website states.
Aided by appearances in “Snack of the Day” on Rachel Ray and “Road Tested with the Neelys” on the Food Network, Whale Tails has grown quickly from its humble beginnings.
The chips’ health merits – they are all-natural, organic, kosher, gluten-free and made from non-GMO ingredients – and distinctive flavors have since earned them inclusion in Whole Foods throughout California, as well as various aquariums, delis and amusement parks.
And while she couldn’t be happier about the success, Kraszewski sees it primarily as a means to a much more important end.
“To me, the whale tail is the symbol of ocean conservation,” she said. “We’re trying to make a difference in our environment and our ocean, one chip at a time.”
http://www.lajollalight.com/2011/06/30/la-jolla-entrepreneur-teams-up-with-wyland/
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