If You’re Fond Of Sand Dunes And Salty Air…
I started my ad agency on May 1, 1980. A couple months later, on July 4, Steve Bernard started Cape Cod Potato Chips in a little storefront in Hyannis. We worked with Steve in the early days of the business. He went out and bought an industrial potato slicer and started making what would become his famous kettle-cooked chips. I really liked the guy’s gusto. But in the beginning he didn’t know a damn thing about making potato chips.
About a year later, the company was on the ropes and about to go bust. Then what seemed like a disaster turned out to be a godsend. The way I remember it, an old-timer in a big Caddy had a heart attack and went barrel-assing through the shop’s window, nearly hitting Steve’s daughter Nicole. The combo of the publicity and the insurance settlement saved the business. After that, they couldn’t make chips fast enough. Anheuser-Busch’s Eagle Snacks division bought the brand in 1985.
Steve, a Fighting Irish Notre Dame graduate, was a real colorful character. He hitchhiked cross-country, fought forest fires in Alaska, raised chickens, and worked on a tuna boat. In 1995, I guess Steve didn’t like Eagle Snacks’ style of doing business, so he bought Cape Cod Potato Chips back. Sadly, he died in 2009 at 61. Later, Cape Cod Potato Chips was sold to Campbell’s Soup, but the chips were still made at the Hyannis plant. Then the other day I read that Campbell’s is shutting down the iconic Hyannis facility, ending more than 40 years of local production and laying off all 49 employees. Now the chips will be made in plants in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
This ain’t good, bucko. Sounds like the Friendly’s fiasco all over again. Every time the big boys buy up the locals, they kill the brand’s soul. For me, Cape Cod Potato Chips—made on the Cape, employing locals—was always the appeal. I just bought my last bag. From now on, I’ll be ordering Fox Family Chips online from Blaine, Maine. Family-owned and, for my money, the best chips in America, Sansabelt Sibilia. Keep your dukes up.
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