Kosher Factory Tours : Snyder’s of Hanover – Discover the Pretzelbilities

Snyder’s of Hanover – Discover the Pretzelbilities

We finally made it to Snyder’s of Hanover! “Finally,” because, this isn’t our first trip to Hanover, Pa. Hanover is also the home of UTZ and is a short distance away from York County, Pa., the self-proclaimed Factory Tour Capital of the World! Unfortunately, although the factory store was open, the actual factory tour at Snyder’s had not been available to us until this trip on a Wednesday morning.

We had mixed expectations going into the tour since it proved so elusive to us. The tour is offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10:00am, 11:00am and 1:00pm, with a reservation. Considering the inconvenient times, we weren’t sure what to expect. We thought it might be an exclusive tour provided by someone with unique knowledge or we might possibly see some exceptional product being produced, but alas, it was none of them.

When we arrived at the factory, we immediately recognized the iconic Snyder’s of Hanover image—we could almost taste our family favorite Honey Mustard and Onion pretzels. When we entered the store, we received a friendly greeting and were immediately taken up a stairwell to begin our tour.

Sadly, the tour itself was mediocre, at best. Whatever our expectations were, the factory tour was wholly underwhelming. In a corporate hallway with offices on one side, we first saw packaged boxes of pretzels and tortilla chips moving on a belt toward shipping. This was an exciting thing to see since the kids recognized the large boxes from the supermarket and the size of the facility was quite impressive. We then moved to the next part of the hallway to see the pretzel bagging. For me, this was the highlight of the tour. Seeing how the pretzels moved down a belt, were separated into smaller bags and then those bags were grouped and packaged was exactly what we expect to see on a factory tour—impressive and mesmerizing! Finally, we moved to see how the pretzels and tortilla chips were made. We couldn’t see much, but we could feel the warmth on the windows from the baking. This facility only makes pretzels and tortilla chips; other products are made throughout the country.

The best part of the trip to Snyder’s was definitely the Factory Store. The store had tons of discounted products from the entire Snyder’s-Lance family (including Cape Cod potato chips, Pretzel Crisps, Jay’s, Stella D’oro and Krunchers!). We quickly filled up our cart with more chips and pretzels than we needed…and another dozen things that we just wanted to try like chocolate-covered gluten free pretzels (Shira’s choice) and Salted Caramel Sweet and Salty Pretzel Pieces (my choice). Meghann went for Krunchers! Sriracha Kettle Cooked potato chips while Penina and Shiffy chose differently packaged Honey Mustard and Onion Pretzel Pieces. We threw in a bunch of other things to try and are getting through them slowly. A delectable and tasty variety made the Factory Store a great end to the tour. Sadly, the tour was so fast that we spent four-times more time in the store than on the tour.

The tour is free and the tour guide was excellent. She was very knowledge and answered all of our questions without hesitating, including how many actual tons of salt they use a month at the facility. She provided us with a small bag of pretzels after the tour and the store had samples out for tasting new products. We had a nice time at Snyder’s but it was really nothing special. If not for the Factory Store and the convenient location to other activities in York, it would have been much more disappointing.

We’ll give Snyder’s of Hanover a 2 out of 5 stars since it provided everything a tour should, but it just wasn’t a very exciting tour and hardly unique. Be sure to schedule it with other tours in the area.