We opened up a bag of Kettlechips and found a golden ticket to visit the Herr’s Potato Chip Factory.
Okay, we didn’t. But, we got a tour of the factory nonetheless. They give them free almost everyday on the hour. And, nothing strange happened (no one turned into a potato chip or floated away or anything like that).
Despite Lydia’s sour (cream and onion) mood, it was a fun morning where we got to see the inner workings of how they make pretzels (apparently, the average American eats about 4 lbs of pretzels a year, but the average Philadelphian eats about 20 lbs….frightening), chips, popcorn, and all those good snackeroos.
Waiting for the fun to begin…
Admiring deliciousness from afar…
We even got to eat some hot chips that had been full potatoes (which she saw coming onto the conveyor belt) only 6 minutes earlier. If a bag of potato chips are your weakness, try some right out of the oven. The one fact that all 3 older kids remembered? The chips that fall on the floor get swept up and fed to cows. I guess the image of a bunch of cows feasting on chips and onion rings stuck with them.
The warehouse went on and on and on. And, they have a 3-5 day turnover on that stock. So, 3-5 days from now all the boxes will be headed out to stores and there will be new ones in their place. Sorta cool but also pathetic how much snacks we eat.
And, of course, fitting with our summer of snacking, we did it up today ourselves.
This is the factory store — you could buy a grab bag for only $3.50 of 10 bags of their new flavors they are trying out–flavors like jalapeno or cream of pickle. ???? Thought about it…then decided no.
Each kid insisted on a turning chair for lunch and then proceeded to eat their lunches (which included multiple bags of chips for each child) while swinging their seats from side-to-side the entire time. Good times.
They had a survey at the end of the tour that if you completed entered you into a drawing to win free chips for a year. Wonder how they determine a year’s supply – do they determine by the number in your family? Maybe your combined weight? Maybe by where you live…we’re in Phili, does that mean we’d get 20 lbs of pretzels for each of us? Maybe they just drive this truck to your house once a week and let you take whatever you want. Come on, big money. That would be fun….and so not good for me or my family…but fun nonetheless.
