Our Mission: “We strive to provide a quality product to all we serve; our customers, growers, employees and shareholders; serving them with the highest integrity, honoring the legacy of our founders and continuing it for future generations.”
In 1978, Malcolm Tweten and his brother-in-law Maurice Gjelsness had an innovative idea. Both farmers had been growing potatoes in the Buxton and Reynolds area for a long time and wanted to market their own potato crop. They started to kick around the idea of a potato warehouse/washplant facility in Buxton, ND With their sons Steve Tweten and Ron Gjelsness on board, NoKota Packers, Inc. began to take shape. On April 20th, 1979 NoKota Packers was incorporated and we began shipping in the fall of 1979.
During our first season, we stored potatoes in a facility that was still unfinished, represented 4 local farming operations, shipped 220,000 hundred weight of potatoes, and employed 18 employees. Today, we have more than doubled in size, work with 9 different growing operations, can ship 600,000+ hundred weight of potatoes, and employ around 35 employees throughout the year.
Our packaging has also changed since we started. In the beginning, we sold most of our potatoes under our brand names, Buxton’s Best, NoKota Pride, Roughrider, and Bully Brand. Once buyers saw how good our product was and the commitment, we had to ship out a high-quality potato, they started to approach us to pack in their private labels. Today, we pack about 85% of our potatoes under our customers’ names.
With the addition of working with more growers and shipping more potatoes, we needed more storage. Our first addition was made in 1993 and there have been three other additions, in 1994, 1996, and 2011. Although we have made physical changes to the storage and washplant, the concept remains the same – our potatoes are stored in a temperature and humidity-controlled environment to maintain quality throughout the season.
As we grew in product and building size, we also added two partners. Tim Lee, employed as Washplant Manager since 1979, became a partner and vice president in 1991. Kendall Gjelsness, Maurice Gjelsness’s son became a partner after Maurice passed away in 1993 and currently serves on the Board of Directors. Carissa Olsen, Tim’s daughter was brought on in 2005 and has worked in most areas of the company, currently serving as the President of the Board and CEO. Malcolm Tweten passed away in 2013. Christopher Gjelsness, Ron’s son joined the NoKota team as Transportation and Warehouse Manager in 2019 and became a partner in 2021. Steve retired as President and Head of Sales in December of 2019 and the Tweten family sold their shares of NoKota stock in August 2021 to the remaining shareholders and NoKota Packers. Tim retired in June of 2020, remaining on the Board of Directors as Vice President. Ron retired in June of 2021 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors as Secretary/Treasurer.
We started NoKota Packers, Inc. in 1979 as a family business and it is still a family business today. Through changes in ownership and through retirements, our service, work ethic and uncompromising commitment to quality and customer satisfaction has never waivered. We look back with satisfaction at our decision to promote Red River Valley red potatoes and we are excited about continuing our involvement in such a dynamic industry.