Potato chip factory tours are a fun and educational family activity. Central Pennsylvania has several potato chip factories offering free tours of their facilities. Whether your interest is in science and technology or you just love snack foods, there’s something for everyone in these tours.
This tour includes a bird’s eye view of the 600,000 square foot factory from a glass-enclosed observation walkway. From this vantage point, you can see the entire potato chip production process, from washing potatoes to bagging the chips. An audio program and closed circuit monitors guide you as you move along the observation gallery. Also displayed along the walls of the walkway is a comprehensive timeline of the history of Utz Potato Chips. In 1921 William and Sallie Utz began making potato chips in their kitchen; the company now produces over one million pounds of potato chips a week. Tours are free.
The Herr’s factory tour is designed to be educational and entertaining, and is billed as a “hands on learning experience.” From inside the 15,000 square foot Visitor’s Center, visitors watch a 27-minute video on the history of the company featuring “Chipper the Chipmunk,” a puppet animated by Jim Henson Puppeteers. The actual tour includes a live guide as well as more video clips along the way, and is designed to be fun and interactive for children. In addition to detailed information about the production process, visitors learn interesting and little-known facts about potato chips and the other snacks foods produced by Herr’s. Herr’s can accommodate large groups and is popular with schools (call ahead for reservations if your group is larger than 20). Tours are free.
Martin's Potato Chips is a small factory compared with Utz and Herr’s, but the company has a long history in the potato chip business. Established in 1941, Martin's traces its origins to the farm kitchen of the Martin brothers. Today Martin's also sells popcorn along with its potato chips and produces more than one million bags per day. Because of its small size, factory tours are only conducted on Tuesdays and must be scheduled ahead of time. Although the factory is only 75,000 square feet and is only available for touring one day per week, it is the only tour that allows you to go onto the factory floor and taste the potato chips fresh from the production line. Tours are free.
Although more famous for their pretzels, Snyders of Hanover also produces potato chips at its Hanover facility. In fact, despite its more familiar association with pretzels, the company traces its potato chip history back to the 1920s, including being one of the founders of the “Potato Chip Institute” in the 1940s. The Snyders tour begins and ends at the store (and finishes with a free bag of pretzels). Visitors get a complete tour of the pretzel production process, including the baking and packaging areas, and will see state-of-the-art robotics at work in the warehouse. The tour finishes with a look at the complete process of potato chip production at Snyders. Although the tour is designed to be fun for everyone from ages 5 and up, visitors will need to be able to climb stairs to take the tour. Reservations are required at least 24 hours in advance. Tours are free.
