Best known for its Chinet brand disposable dinnerware, the Keyes Fibre Company ranks among the United States's top 50 producers of wood products. The company's output focuses on products for food service and retail distribution. The Chinet line includes disposable plates of varying sizes and shapes made from paper pulp, paper napkins, dinner and luncheon size plastic flatware, and paper dinnerware in holiday themes. In addition to disposable dinnerware, Keyes manufactures egg and fruit packaging, cup carriers, fluorescent tube packaging, and over 400 other wood pulp products. Keyes (sounds like "eyes") was a family-run company from 1903 to 1927. As the company prepared for its centenary, its parent was Van Leer Holding, Inc.

The origins of the Keyes Fibre Company date back to the mid-nineteenth century, when inventor Martin Keyes was born in Lempster, New Hampshire. He started work at his father's saw and grist mill at a young age. His inventive capacity became evident in his youth, and led him to keep pencil and paper on hand in order to write or draw ideas at any time. The habit would prove invaluable to the creation of the Keyes Fibre Company. Keyes's entire career would involve the paper business, especially "papier-mache" (which in French means "chewed paper").