California Nuggets

- While traveling in Japan in 1989, a California farmer and almond processor named Steve Gikas witnessed a process of roasting Peruvian corn. The product was so impressive that Gikas purchased the recipe and returned to Ripon, California with plans to build his own corn processing plant.
- The first salted corn snack to run through the facility in 1996 was purchased from Mexico and Peru.
- In the year 2000 a California version of the product was offered to the domestic and international marketplace under the California Nuggets label.