Covered Bridge Potato Chips is a great Canadian snack story.
For four generations, the Albright Family has run a successful potato farm in Hartland, New Brunswick. The latest generation decided to start making potato chips.
They weren’t just any potato chips. They were chips made from New Brunswick Russet Burbank potatoes, which gives the chips a dark colour, delicious earthy taste, and perfect rustic texture.
Eating these chips is like eating a chip made with real potatoes instead of a chip that may satisfy a salt craving but isn’t distinct in any way.
**Confession: I ate a whole bag of plain unsalted chips while conducting “research” to write this.
A Family Enterprise
In 2003, an early frost devastated the Albright Family’s potato crop. The next year, Matt and Ryan Albright decided to diversify their business by entering the potato distribution and brokering business. They quickly realized that US companies were buying their potatoes to satisfy America’s insatiable desire for kettle chips.
They decided that Canadians deserved to have chips made from heritage Canadian potatoes. And so it began.
Now Matt and Ryan own the farm and grow 500 acres of dark russet potatoes year-round and sell 6 million bags of chips a year.
An Iconic Bridge
The name, Covered Bridge, comes from a real Canadian spot. Hartland, New Brunswick, is a town known for the world’s longest covered bridge.
Only 1,000 people live in the town. The wooden bridge built in 1901 attracts tens of thousands of tourists a year.
When tourists visit the bridge they can take a side-trip to see The Covered Bridge Potato Farm.
A Caring Community
In the early hours of March 2024, the Covered Bridge Potato Chips plant burned down. No one was injured, but 100 staff were out of work. Because Covered Bridge is a significant employer in the region, the community rallied together to support workers. A benefit breakfast at the local Woodstock Wesleyan Church raised over $32,000 to provide direct support for Covered Bridge employees.
With support from the community and government, Covered Bridge rebuilt the plant and didn’t just resume operations, but has expanded their snack offerings.
We’re really proud to carry Covered Bridge chips in the store. We’ve marked them as Made in Canada so you can find them easily. We apologize in advance if you just can’t stop eating them. 🙂