Tiger Trail Lefse Chip Co.

Tiger Trail Lefse Chip Company opened its doors just five months ago on June 14, 2024, right before the Gammel Dag celebration. The store and its showcased offerings of both sweet and savory lefse chips were a huge hit with the hometown crowd returning for the festivities. 

Owners Terry and Lori Pelzl, their son Jordan and his wife Anna, and their daughter Jade and her husband Clay Olstad had been working to perfect their lefse chips since before 2019. When Jordan and Anna got married in 2019, they decided on a slightly unusual honeymoon. Terry and Lori joined them on the honeymoon trip to Texas to check out a press machine to make lefse and actually tried it out in their motel room.  Lori assured everyone that the newlyweds did at least have their own room!

Jordan found many of the machines used by Tiger Trail on the internet and then tweaked them to make the perfect lefse chips. His goal for years was to make lefse as thin as the lefse locals were used to having. In his search for perfection, he even built his own press, storing it in his garage and experimenting with recipes and the machine for a year.

When the Pelzls found out that they might be able to purchase a building in Peterson that Lori had always loved, the former Chiggy’s Liquor, they decided it was time to get serious about opening their company. After purchasing the building, they spent the winter remodeling and changing the flooring. 

Tiger Trail was the reasonable name for the company since it is in the home of the Peterson Tigers and is located near the Root River Bike Trail. The colors chosen for the decor and branding were, of course, maroon and gold. Terry had taught and coached at Peterson School for many years before the consolidation. The gift shop has all things lefse, bike, Peterson and gnome related. You can even buy a Peterson Tigers t-shirt there!

The Tiger Trail Lefse Chip team make and package their lefse chips all the way from potatoes to the finished chip right on site. The lefse is smaller in diameter (5”-6”) than usual lefse; the team decided to do this so they could use a cutting machine to make the chips. That machine was originally designed to cut pies.

Lefse customer feedback on the size has been positive. People appreciate that they merely have to put the lefse on a serving plate with butter and sugar nearby; with no need to cut. 

The dough machine has a side chute so flour can be added while mixing to make the consistency perfect. Hockey puck-shaped dough comes out of the machine ready to form into lefse. The dough is fed into another machine which presses the tender lefse to a thin flat lefse that is baked and then fan cooled as it moves on a conveyor.

The lefse is then stacked into a tall stack to be cut in one motion into chips. The chips are deep-fried in oil and then returned to the conveyor to cool and drain. This degreasing step makes sure the chips are crisp and never greasy.

Once cooled, the chips are placed in a huge rotating drum container to be flavored. Right now, the flavors being produced are savory salt, cinnamon sweet, cool ranch, pumpkin pie and the newest flavor, gingerbread. The pumpkin pie and gingerbread flavors are seasonal and will disappear after the holidays. 

Following the flavoring process, the chips are taken to the bagging machine, to be weighed and bagged by Terry. Lori is in charge of the final step, double sealing the bags with a reclosable ziplock to ensure freshness. Labels containing nutrition and ingredient information, which are made by the Pelzls, are added. Soon Tiger Trail will transition to preprinted labels to save time. With all the machines, Anna is now able to bake all the lefse needed each week in a single day with minimal help.

Currently, Tiger Trail Lefse Chips can be purchased in 50 different locations including breweries, distilleries, grocery stores and Scandinavian gift stores. Some of the farthest locations are in the states of Washington and Nebraska. Lefse chips have even made their way to Norway! According to reports from Norway, the lefse made by TigerTrail is the same size as is usually served there. 

Sales have grown exponentially since June. Jordan Pelzl’s goal is that customers consider the chips a usual snack and not just a unique novelty item to sample.

Knowing the best sales technique is to have a potential customer taste them, Tiger Trail has samples available on a regular basis, displayed on their unique bicycle table. Lori had found a similar bike table with a $1,000-plus price tag on Wayfair. Terry soon was commissioned to build the table which he has attached firmly to the wall with brackets. Bikers who visit the shop enjoy the novelty!

Tiger Trail presented at a recent very successful tasting event at the Civic Center in Rochester, making sales and connections in the business. They intend to attend a similar wholesale event in Cannon Falls in March.

The team will be working on new flavors after the new year. Some of the flavors being considered are taco, barbecue, dill pickle or salt and vinegar and possibly chipotle. They are also thinking of adding dips to eat with plain chips. In the future, Township 23 in Nelson, Wis., may be collaborating on some dips with Tiger Trail.

At this time, the store is truly a family endeavor; there are no other employees. Terry’s 90-year-old father, Ted Pelzl even helps out working the checkout counter most Fridays. Store hours at 350 Mill Street in Peterson at this time are Wednesdays from 9-2, and Fridays and Saturdays from 10-2. They have a website lefsechips.square.site/ and take orders online; they also have a Facebook page,Tiger Trail Lefse Chip Company, which updates followers on new offerings. 

Tiger Trail is very appreciative of all the support of local businesses. If you are in Peterson in search of your lefse chip fix, they encourage you to call and they will open by appointment. Once you have lefse chips from Tiger Trail, you’re likely to make them part of your regular snack routine!