After Decades-Run On Cape, Namesake Chip Factory Is Gone For Good

HYANNIS, MA — The Cape Cod Chips factory, an icon of local business and a beloved tourist destination, has locked its doors for good.

The plant at 100 Breeds Hill Road closed all operations on April 2, a spokesperson told Patch on Friday. The shutdown follows an announcement in January that Campbell’s Co., which owns the facility and the brand, was consolidating its chip-making operations.

Forty-nine workers were expected to lose their jobs. Campbell’s, a New Jersey-based multinational food conglomerate, bought Cape Cod Chips in 2018.

The Hyannis business dates to 1980, when founder Stephen Bernard got the idea of producing snacks for the tourist trade in the downtown area. Five years later, he had opened a 20,000-square-foot factory a few miles away. He later expanded, and the business has changed hands several times since then.

“We're continuing to support our employees with this transition,” Campbell's spokesperson Beth Jolly told Patch on Friday.

The potato-chip factory had drawn as many as 250,000 visitors each year to tour its operations, according to published reports. Each visitor received a free bag of chips.

Now, Campbell’s is consolidating its Cape Cod Chip operations far from the peninsula – at existing plants in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.