Cape Cod Potato Chips
Kettle-cooked chips from Cape Cod since 1980.
Cape Cod Potato Chips is an American snack food company known for its kettle-cooked potato chips. The company is headquartered in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. It has been a brand owned by Campbell's since 2018.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 4 July 1980
- Founder
- Steve Bernard
- Headquarters
- Hyannis, Massachusetts
- Country
- U.S.
- Products
- Snack foods
- Parent
- The Campbell's Company (2018–present)
- Snyder's-Lance (1999–2018)
- Anheuser-Busch (1985–1996)
Facts from the source article.
History
Steve Bernard and his brother Jude founded Cape Cod Potato Chips in 1980, aiming to offer healthier foods with minimal processing. Bernard's wife, Lynn, had previously opened Ardklin Natural Foods in Harwich during the 1970s. Bernard was dissatisfied with the lack of healthy snacks and decided to add potato chips after tasting a natural chip from a Hawaii-based company. He sold his auto parts business in 1980 and purchased an 800-square-foot storefront in Hyannis, Massachusetts, located to attract tourists, along with an industrial potato slicer for $3,000. His knowledge of the snack food industry came almost entirely from a week-long course at Martin's Potato Chips in Thomasville, Pennsylvania. Unlike typical commercial chips made via continuous frying, Cape Cod chips are cooked in batches in kettles, using a shallow vat of oil and a rake for stirring, resulting in a crunchier texture. Snack Food Association president James A. McCarthy noted that Bernard did not invent the kettle chip but helped revive it. The company struggled after opening on July 4, 1980. The following winter, a car crashed through the store's front window, narrowly missing Bernard's daughter and wife; insurance money and publicity from the accident helped sustain the business until the next summer, when sales grew substantially and chips entered multiple supermarket chains. Anheuser-Busch acquired the company in 1985, operating it under its Eagle Snacks unit. Bernard repurchased the company and its factory from Anheuser-Busch in 1996 with capital from Stolberg Partners. Lance Inc. bought the company from Bernard in 1999, when annual sales had reached $30 million. In 2010, Lance Inc. merged with Snyder's of Hanover to form Snyder's-Lance. Campbell Soup Co. acquired Snyder's-Lance in December 2017. In 2026, Campbell's announced the closure of the Hyannis factory, ending production on Cape Cod.
In popular culture
On the television sitcom Friends, character Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan is seen eating Cape Cod Chips' white cheddar popcorn in the 1999 episode "The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad." Joey Tribbiani also eats Cape Cod chips in the episode "The One Where Rosita Dies." Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara composed a piece titled "Cape Cod Chips" for her 2009 solo album Place to Be. In spring 2012, the company aired its first television commercial, featuring computer-generated seagulls performing A Flock of Seagulls' song "I Ran (So Far Away)." Lil Wayne's mixtape Sorry 4 the Wait 2 includes the lyric "Pockets lookin' like the Blob, chips like Cape Cod" in the song "No Haters." The Arthur episode "The Chips Are Down" included a factory tour of Cape Cod Potato Chips in its "A Word From Us Kids" segment.
More in Snack Food Manufacturers of the United States
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