Extraordinary Stories From An Ordinary Guy: The "Free Snacks in Nottingham" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just got home after a nice day at Chesapeake City and a visit to Herr's Snack Foods in Nottingham, PA. Most times when we travel to the Chesapeake Bay area we pass the Herr factory in Nottingham. Often wanted to stop and see how they make all their snack foods, but never had the chance. They are always closed on weekends. So this year, neither my wife nor I work on Mondays during the summer, so we decided to stop and take the factory tour. A few months ago, during a visit to St. Martin, we found Herr's chips for

sale in a small pizza store on the French side of the island. Wow, potato chips from home made it the whole way to the Caribbean. Thought it pretty amazing they were shipped that far, so just had to see how they make them and manage to export them to the Caribbean. Tour started at 11:00 AM in the small 140 person theatre they had just for the tours. Watched a 10 minute video about the history of the company and then toured the factory. Company was started by James Herr in 1949 when, at the age of 21, he decided he wanted his own company and purchased a small potato chip company for $1,750. The purchased included a kettle for cooking the chips, a mechanical peeler and a mechanical potato slicer. Shortly after the purchase, and with a new bride, he moved the business into a vacated tobacco shed on his family farm. As demand for his chips grew, so did his company. In '49 he moved into a 3,600 sq. ft. facility he rented in West Willow, PA. Two years later, on September 5th, the place burned to

the ground because of overheated cooking oil. Shortly after, with help from family,friends and the bank, the Herrs bought 37 acres in Nottingham, and built a new 4,500 square-foot plant. Jim Herr equipped the new plant with the company's first automated cooker. In '56 he added a 7,000 sq. ft.warehouse and two years after that he began adding seasoning to the chips; Barbecue, Sour Cream and Onions, Old Bay, Salt & Vinegar, Pizza, Red Hot, Slightly Salted, Pa. Dutch, Dill, Sour Cream and Cheddar. In '63 he doubled his space by adding 21,000 sq. ft. to the plant and became Herr's Potato Chips, Inc. He also built his family house on the location. '64 brought the cardboard barrel to hold the chips as well as the wax paper bags. In '74 he changed to foil bags which, even thought they were more costly, kept the chips fresher. Over the next 10

years he added Cheese Curls, Popcorn, Pretzels, Corn and Tortilla Chips, and Onion Rings and began to export to other countries. In '88 he started a manufacturing licensee in Barbados. Ah Ha!! That's how the chips got to St. Martin. In 1989 he built the Visitor's Center and started the factory tours. During this century the company has grown until they now have more than 340 quality snacks. The tour we took was about an hour long and included a look at how they make their pretzels, potato and corn chips as well as how they are packaged. We were told, as we walked through the immense shipping department, that all the products we saw today will be out the door in three days, replaced with new products. They pride themselves on quality and freshness. Pretty impressive tour. Oh yeah, we did get to sample the chips as they came off the assembly line and got a free bag of chips after the tour was over. I was not able to take photos during the tour, but found hundreds of photos online and have included a few so you can see what I just saw on my tour. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos above show the chip rack I found in St. Martin, photo of the tobacco barn which was the start of Herr's Chips, front page of the local paper after the fire, and the original Nottingham plant.

Visitor's center