Potato salad project could be the funniest Kickstarter yet

By David Nield Published July 6, 2014

It all started with one man’s dream to raise $10 to make some potato salad. But with 27 days still to go on his Kickstarter, Ohio developer Zack Brown has raked in nearly $4,000 in support, and now he’s thinking about hiring a venue, streaming the event over the Internet and producing custom-made hats… as well as making potato salad.

The beauty of the potato salad Kickstarter campaign, which boasts 647 backers and counting, is in its deadpan, low-key approach. “I’m making potato salad,” writes Zack Brown on the project page. “Basically I’m just making potato salad. I haven’t decided what kind yet.”

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“UPDATE: WE DID IT” he posted when the original $10 goal was met. His project brief is scattered with subtle humor that plays on the standard Kickstarter template we’ve all seen many times before: “It might not be that good. It’s my first potato salad,” reads the short entry underneath the Risks and challenges heading.

If you’d like to help Zack meet some more of his stretch goals, you can get involved for as little as $1 — you’ll get a thank you on the website, and your name will be said out loud during the potato salad-making process. The top pledge amount is $50, which gets you a book on potato salads of the world.

For Zack Brown, though, this isn’t about fame or fortune. “I didn’t get in the potato salad game to make money, I did it to make potato salad,” he explained to CNET. “I was just hoping I would get the opportunity to make a potato salad, but now I’m thinking that if we keep doing well, we should get hats made.”

The Kickstarter hasn’t yet hit the heights of the Reading Rainbow campaign, but it’s good to see there are people on the platform with a sense of humor. And a dream of making potato salad.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…

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