What if you could have a baked potato in minutes, instead of an hour?
Mart Frozen Foods, a subsidiary of the Mart Group, cut the ribbon earlier this month on a plant in Southern Idaho that produces whole, fully baked Idaho russet potatoes that you can microwave in four minutes. The Mart Group, based in Rupert, is a group of family-owned businesses that deliver potato products to grocers, distributors and wholesalers in North America, according to its website .
Mart Group CEO Julian Critchfield says the product, called OH!Tatoes, is comparable to regular oven-baked potatoes in taste and texture while taking a fraction of the time to prepare. He said the company hired a consulting group to do consumer testing and “the response was just overwhelming.”
“Everyone loves baked potatoes, but it takes time to prepare them,” Critchfield told the Idaho Statesman on a Zoom call. “The sensory test was comparing this product with a freshly baked potato and a microwaved potato. The taste and texture came out equal to a fresh baked potato and miles ahead on convenience and way ahead of just microwaving a raw potato.”