Route 11 Potato Chips stays true to its roots

MOUNT JACKSON — With nearly 30 years of experience, Route 11 Potato Chips wasn't going to let the COVID-19 pandemic stop production of its well-known snack.

Sarah Cohen, the company's founder and president, said that although there were some "dire moments of uncertainty," she and her staff are happy production has ramped back up and folks can once again visit the factory at 11 Edwards Way to see the chips being made.

"We made it through the pandemic, and we never stopped producing," Cohen said. "We determined that we were essential, and we stayed in production."

The factory's retail store was shut down for about a year during the pandemic. Staff members sold potato chips out of the window of their break room.

The retail space opened back up in April and the fry viewings resumed.

The fry viewings, typically held between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, are free. Visitors can stand in the retail space to view the cooking process.

"People can see the entire process except the peeling. We tell them about the process and we answer questions," Cohen said. "It's rare that you get to see something being made. We enjoy showing people and sharing it with them. We’re very excited to have that reopened."

The fry viewings attracted typically 100 to 200 daily visitors before the pandemic. Nowadays, Cohen said, "we’ve been busier than we’ve ever been in our retail store."

"It makes us feel pretty special and fortunate," she said. "We have great customers. We really appreciate people coming in and getting their chips from us and seeing the process."

Groups of 15 people or more are asked to call ahead. If you are coming specifically to watch workers make chips, it is best to call 540-477-9664 in advance to ensure they're cooking. Staff asks that no photos be taken of the production area.

Route 11 Potato Chips launched in 1992 "with a tiny little cooker, a garden rake, a great recipe, a lot of energy, some good ole fashioned grit, a little bit of dauntlessness, with some twenty-something delusion thrown in for good measure," according to the company's website.

Once based in Middletown, the company's current facility was built in 2008. A second production line was added about two years ago. Though it was shut down during the pandemic, Cohen said it's back up and running now.

According to its website, Route 11 Potato Chips cooks in small batches, which "gives us the opportunity to create a chip that is undoable on a larger scale."

The company gets its potatoes from North Carolina, but soon potatoes from Bridgewater will be added into the mix.

Plenty of things have changed with the business over the last three decades, Cohen said. But it still stays true to its roots, she added. That, along with adaptability, has led to sustained success, Cohen said.

"Part of sustaining a business is trying to navigate those changes the best that you can. That's all we can really do. We’ve navigated up to this point through the last 30 years and have stayed afloat," she said. "Our plan is to continue doing the same."

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