New Brunswick-based Covered Bridge Potato Chip Co. Inc. begins business, producing kettle chips.
Tobique-Mactaquac Member of Parliament Mike Allen performed the opening ceremonies and announced an Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency grant of C$77,150 (US$64,088) to help the company target food export markets.
"At a time when the potato industry is having its challenges, this is really good," Allen says. "It shows we can still have positive and value-added products, which is so important. When we look at our existing products, rather than just sell them in a bag, now we can add value to them and create a really great market."
Company president and co-owner Ryan Albright says business is growing after introducing his product to local stores earlier this year.
"We have had a lot of local support," he says. "As we start introducing our chips in new areas, the feedback has been phenomenal."
Covered Bridge Potato Chips offers tours of the plant with visitors seeing how kettle chips are made and learning the history of the Russet potato.
Albright grows and processes the Covered Bridge potato chips on his farm close to Canada's longest covered bridge -- 1,282 feet -- at Hartland NB.
He turned heads at the Grocery Innovations Canada show in Toronto because the industry-standard foil packaging is inside burlap bags. The chips are kettle-boiled in canola oil.