The Whole Shabang is a brand of seasoned snacks made by the Keefe Group, a company that specializes in serving the prison population. A spinoff of the Keefe Group's Moon Lodge potato chips, The Whole Shabang has garnered a cult following among former inmates as well as those who have never been incarcerated due to positive word-of-mouth, leading the company to sell them to the general public.
The Whole Shabang started off as a flavor of Moon Lodge potato chips by Keefe's private label brand of potato chips for prison commissary stores. The flavor is often described as a hybrid between salt & vinegar and barbecue potato chips sold in more mainstream retail channels, known in Canada as all-dressed.
Initially, like most of Keefe's products outside of national name brands, The Whole Shabang was only sold in commissary stores. However, ex-inmates began looking for the product once released from prison but could not find it, leading to a grey market for The Whole Shabang through e-commerce sites such as eBay. Many others used social media to contact Keefe directly, asking them to offer the chips for sale to the general public.[1] In 2012, Keefe acknowledged publicly that they had a major hit on their hands, but would not offer The Whole Shabang for sale to the general public.[2]
By 2016, however, demand from ex-inmates—including those who served as little as 60 days in a county jail as well as prison visitors—prompted Keefe to spin off The Whole Shabang from their Moon Lodge line and offer them online to the general public.[1][2][3]
Keefe offers The Whole Shabang in several flavors.