text: 20th century Wise Foods was founded in 1921 in Berwick, Pennsylvania by Earl Wise and was initially called the 'Wise Potato Chip Company. Wise owned Wise Delicatessen and began making potato chips as a way to make use of excess potatoes, initially cooking them in his mother's kitchen, and then selling them to customers in brown paper bags. At the time, potato chips were generally kept in glass display cases, or cracker barrels, and scooped into paper bags for customers. The bags developed grease spots and did not keep the chips fresh for very long, eventually leading to the development of waxed paper bags. Wise's chips proved an immediate hit with customers and soon the delicatessen owner became a regional potato chip mogul. He decided on an owl as a company mascot, a creature reputed to be "wise," the stylized eye of which remains the corporate logo. He had his first delivery truck by 1922 and opened his first production plant in 1925.
  In 1964, the company passed out of the Wise family, when it was acquired by the Borden Condensed Milk Co. In 1968 Wise Potato Chip company, which then sold popcorn, Cheez Doodles, Bravos Tortilla Chips, and other snack foods changed its name to Wise Foods, Inc. In 1989 Wise acquired Moore's Quality Snack Foods, which also produced salty snacks marketing mostly in Virginia and the Carolinas.
  In 1994, Borden agreed to sell Wise and Moore's to the Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company, and though the purchase was never completed, the fraudulent behavior the prospective buyers used to try to finance the deal precipitated the collapse of the Pittsburgh-based conglomerate.
  21st century
  In October 2000, the company was bought by New York City-based investment firm of Palladium Equity Partners L.L.C. for $96 million.