Internet crowd bites big into potato salad project

SAN FRANCISCO — The transformative power of online crowd funding is being poured into a bowl or two of potato salad.

A Kickstarter project with a simply stated goal of making the classic US summer picnic side-dish had raised more than $9,000 from 1,351 backers as of Monday and was attracting more support.

“Basically, I’m just making potato salad,” project mastermind Zack Danger Brown said in an unabashedly succinct description at his page at the website where people pitch ideas in the hope that folks on the Internet will pitch in with funding.

“I haven’t decided what kind yet.”

Brown blasted past his original funding goal so fast that he added “stretch goals” that include making twice as much potato salad, trying more than one recipe, upgrading the mayonnaise, and sending people themed baseball caps.

His funding campaign shot past those faster than a spud out of a potato gun.

Upon passing the $1,000 funding point, the Ohio man promised an online live stream starring him making the potato salad after the Kickstarter funding round closes on August 2.

Most of the pledges came in the form of one or two dollars each, with those backers to be rewarded in simple ways, including their names being said aloud while the potato salads is being made.

Bigger money backers kicking in $10 or more are in line for rewards ranging from hand-written potato-themed haiku and access to the kitchen during the salad making to homage T-shirts or a “Potato Salads of the World” recipe book.

“I love this project!” a backer with the screen-name Devorah Brehony said in a Kickstarter chat forum post on Monday. “It’s so insane!”