About Us
TJ Shaler
Hi! I'm TJ Shaler, founder of Oak City Spice & Snack Co., and foodservice is my second career, but cooking has been a lifelong passion.
I trained at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York, where I learned just how much work it takes to bring a real idea to the plate. After graduating, I moved to Raleigh, NC and jumped straight into the local food scene.
White-tablecloth dining was never the goal — but the depth of flavor those kitchens demand absolutely was. That same standard is what I bring to every seasoning, baked good, and chip that carries the Oak City Spice name.
The Flavor - Oak City Spice & Snack Co.
Oak City Spice started as a small-batch seasoning company, hand-curating blends for my own kitchen and local restaurants. A side project of gluten-free baked goods – the Belgian Chocolate Brownie and fresh fruit infused pound cakes – took off at Western Wake Farmers Market in Morrisville, NC.
To help customers sample the seasonings, I started dusting them onto fresh kettle chips. They were such a hit that a full line of specialty chips was born, starting with Smokehouse Crunch, Cherry Bomb, and Hot ‘n Honey.
Every Oak City Spice product is made with the highest-quality dehydrated herbs, spices, and seasonings I can find — never any artificial colors, flavors, additives, or fillers. The colors you see on the chip are the seasonings in their natural state.
Some flavors are inspired by pop culture, others by pure curiosity — the Wiri Wiri pepper behind our Cherry Bomb came from an episode of America's Test Kitchen I couldn't stop thinking about.
Heat is never the point. Flavor is. And the subtle sweetness you catch behind a good pepper — from carrots, bell pepper, or brown sugar — is always there for a reason.
