Wachusett Potato Chip Company in

Fitchburg, Massachusetts Fitchburg is a city in northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The third-largest city in the county, its population was 41,946 at the 2020 census. Fitchburg is home to Fitchburg State University as well as 17 public and private e ...

was founded in 1937, by Polish-American brothers Theofil and Steven Krysiak. The company takes its name from nearby Mount Wachusett. The company was originally founded in Clinton, Massachusetts and moved to Fitchburg in 1947 when it purchased a decommissioned Fitchburg County jail building and grounds. The company converted the property and it has served as a manufacturing and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

facility for snack products since that time. The company made several additions and renovations over time to accommodate manufacturing and storage needs. It completed its last large scale renovation in the 1980s which included the addition of air conditioning to the manufacturing facility. Wachusett Potato Chip Company produces a variety of potato chips flavors including sour cream and onion, ketchup, salt and vinegar, no salt-added, barbecue and ripple chips. It is also distributes under its own label cheese curls and pop corn. The chips are sold at stores including

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, Hannaford, Stop and Shop, Price Chopper, and local restaurants and delis. Another large portion of Wachusett's production is dedicated to private label potato chips for supermarkets such as

Price Chopper Supermarkets Golub Corporation is an American supermarket operator. Headquartered in Schenectady, New York, it owns the chains Market 32 and Price Chopper Supermarkets. The company opened its first supermarkets in New York's Capital District in 1932, and c ...

and as well for food service providers such as

Sysco Sysco Corporation (short for Systems and Services Company) is an American multinational corporation involved in marketing and distributing food products, smallwares, kitchen equipment and tabletop items to restaurants, healthcare and education ...

. On October 19, 2011, Wachusett was sold to Hanover, PA-based Utz Quality Foods, Inc. Utz paid $1.7 million for Wachusett's 56,000 square-foot facility. Utz announced that Wachusett's 50 employees would be kept on, including members of the Krysiak family. The company now operates as a subsidiary of Utz and still makes Wachusett products.

References

Massachusetts cuisine Snack food manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Worcester County, Massachusetts 1939 establishments in Massachusetts American companies established in 1939 Food and drink companies established in 1939 {{food-company-stub