Herr's Snack Factory

Growing up in the Philadelphia area, Herr's was ubiquitous with potato chips—and snack food in general. When we arrived at the Herr's Snack Factory Tour in Nottingham, Pennsylvania, and I shared with my family my passion for making Herr's mine (the company's tag line is "Make Herr's Yours"), I discovered no one had any idea what I was talking about. Living in the Washington, D.C. area now, where Herr's products are not commonly found, this trip was especially nostalgic for me. My nostalgia was enhanced when we arrived and discovered that Herr's evidently hasn't changed the logo on their foods or their product packaging design in decades.

Upon entering the factory store I was immediately whisked away into childhood memories of eating Herr's chips and pretzels at just about every social event I had ever attended. Meanwhile the two oldest kids immediately ran into the antiquated theater to begin the thirty minute tour. The kids were obviously excited simply because there was a screen, and then Meghann came three minutes later with the youngest kid because, in hasty excitement, I had put the kid's shoes on the wrong feet, and Meghann had to fix it—I was pretty excited.

The ten minute video was a nice introduction to the Herr family and the history of Herr's. It was a bit more about the family than I would have expected, but as the video and the tour progressed you began to see their company in a different light—it is a local, socially conscious, family-friendly, religiously-oriented company. (I was pleasantly surprised to see a small pamphlet "Chips of Wisdom" tucked away outside of them factory store. "Chips of Wisdom" contains two pages written by the Herr's foods founder Jim Herr and then the entire biblical book of Proverbs.) The kids weren't too into the video...until they discussed product expansion and introduced Herr's Cheese Curls. All three kids, hilariously and embarrassingly, screamed out that those are their favorites.

Now to the actual factory tour. The tour allows you to see pretty much everything you'd want to and expect to see—namely potato chips and pretzels. We first entered the aptly named Pretzel Room. We saw the dough move along a conveyer belt and, with no twisting, just pressing, become pretzels by the tens. Ten pretzels and then ten more; every two seconds more pretzels. In one small window we could see thousands of thin pretzels going down the line. It was very cool to see, but unfortunately no pictures were allowed anywhere on the tour. Once the kids realized how many pretzels they were seeing, they became quite interested in the earlier steps of the process.

Next we saw how tortilla chips are born, or shaped in this case, from a grainy paste. They were then dressed in cheesy goodness and shipped to packaging. Then it was off to the star of the tour—the potato chip! At this point you start to really appreciate the automation and the precision of the factory. Although you are always separated from the production floor, the tour really allows you to see everything happening (of the buildings we visited along the tour at least). For the potato chips, we saw on a video how the potatoes arrived and how they were washed, peeled and cut. We saw the machines doing that work, but we didn't have a great angle to see it actually happen (unlike at the UTZ factory where you are elevated and can easily see the peeling and cutting). But that's immediately forgotten when you see FRESH POTATO CHIPS coming out 4 feet in front of you (through a window of course). One of the guides then washed her hands, suited up in gloves and a hairnet, and collected the still hot chips on a tray and brought them to for devouring. Naturally, my kids were in front of the line...and then begging for more. Lesson learned: there are two kind of people in this world—those who have had a fresh factory potato chip and those who haven't. It was awesome!

The packaging was not too exciting except for its remarkable size. The enormity of the room was overwhelming considering the number of things happening in one place. This is where you see the most people in the factory. It was still automated, but there were many people working the machines and checking for quality. Interestingly, there was one machine making sure your bag of chips has both large and small chips in it so you don't end up with a bag of all small chips or large chips—apparently they've thought of everything!

The boxing area was cool because you could see and wave to the workers close up since there was no glass barrier at this point. The storage room was massive and full of everything Herr's; they told us everything we saw would be gone and replaced within 3-5 days!

At the end of the tour, they gave everyone two free bags of chips and then we were off to the store where I told the kids they could get two things, which parents know means at least four after negotiations.

Seeing everything Herr's makes in one place was nice and effectively tested our will power. We purchased some things to try and some things we knew we'd like; the kids got cheese curls among other things. The clerks in the store were friendly and patient which was definitely appreciated.

Only one criticism of the tour and a half critique of the factory store. For more detail, in each room we stopped on the tour, there were videos with supplementary information to fill in the gaps. It was helpful, but I would have preferred a tour guide sharing that information. On factory tours I want to hear from people who know the business. We had two very young girls sharing with us some notes and tidbits they were told to remember, instead of the things they discovered having worked there for a while. The main guide said she had been there for just three weeks and was now training the second guide. They did a good enough job, and I'm glad to see the factory hiring young people, but I expected more.

When visiting a factory store we've come to expect factory store prices. Herr's prices were

all retail prices. I was surprised so I asked the clerk why it was the case, and as we came to learn about the company's values, this appeared to be a genuine value-driven decision. She explained that there are local stores all around that sell Herr's products and it wouldn't be fair to them to undercut their sales. With that understanding we gladly paid retail prices for our snack-food-filled ride home.

The Herr's factory tour was a nice experience on the border of Philadelphia and Pennsatucky. If you are traveling on I-95 passed Philadelphia, it's only an hour away, right off Route-1 just north of the Maryland border. There really isn't anything else there but the factory. The entire experience took about an hour. They require tour reservations, but they weren't full so you can probably call on the day you plan to visit. We definitely liked the tour and would recommend it for families, just be aware of its proximity to nothing else of general interest.

Kashrus note: Most Herr's products are kosher. Check each item before purchasing.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Website: www.herrs.com/snackfactorytours.html

Location: Nottingham, PA

Affordability: Free

Nearby factories and attractions: None, sadly