When cards won't do the trick, say it with a potato in the mail

There's intense competition in the novelty potato-sending market, with three main sites specializing in sub-niches, from plain old spuds to heartfelt messages

After serving as the scoutmaster of a boy scout troop, Jeff Kelly spent half a career as a manager and engineer for global travel company Expedia before he got into the business of sending potatoes through the mail.

Along with his business partner Jim Owens, the retired former CEO of the non-profit Cast for Kids Foundation, Kelly wanted to find a new product or business idea to which, he said, he could bring both his experience in customer service and his values as an Eagle Scout. Something "uplifting".