Covered Bridge Potato Chips keeps the snacks coming with makeshift plant

A fire destroyed Hartland company's factory in March, leaving questions about production and jobs. In a large warehouse in Woodstock, the smell of salt and vinegar overtakes anyone who enters its doors. At first glance, the operation might look like a typical production line for crispy potato chips.

In reality, it's the result of nearly six months of creativity and resilience on the part of the people who work at the Covered Bridge Potato Chips company. Fire destroyed its main factory near Hartland in March, and owner and CEO Ryan Albright said the months since have "definitely been a roller-coaster."

Ryan Albright:

"To sit there and watch the factory that you spent 18 years of your life [on] burning to the ground, that was really tough. I watched the fire for about an hour, until I had enough of watching it."

Only a few days after the fire, the company outlined a plan to start producing chips again. 

Local companies help set up makeshift operation

A warehouse in nearby Woodstock, which the company bought years ago, has been transformed into a makeshift seasoning station. Covered Bridge is now sending russet potatoes to six different chip producers in Canada and the United States who have been trained in how to produce chips with the company's signature crunch.

The producers then send those plain, fried chips back, so they can be seasoned, packaged and shipped by Covered Bridge. Ryan Albright:

"We almost sold it a few years ago, and I'm really glad we didn't because we definitely needed it now."

Only five and a half months after a fire burned its plant in Harvey, Covered Bridge Potato Chips are now being produced in Woodstock. (Courtesy: CBC)

He said the company bought the building in 2011 and was using it to store chip bags, boxes and other raw materials. Withing a few weeks of the fire, Albright said, his team was hard at work gutting the entire facility. The operation is now up and running, but sourcing the needed equipment was not easy. Typically, Albright said, the lead time to get the machines required for the seasoning process would be about a year.

With no time to spare, the company enlisted the help of local companies which fabricated make-shift machines that have allowed staff to keep the flavours rolling. He said operations will likely remain at the Woodstock plant for a year, maybe even two, while they assess where and when they can rebuild the factory.

Ryan Albright:

"I think as an entrepreneur ... there's only two things you can do: one, you can just give up, or two, you deal with it and just keep pressing on."

Employees thought the incident would be "a job-ending fire" Albright still doesn't know what caused the fire March 1 but said the investigation is continuing. He believes it likely started in a fryer. No one was injured but the incident left employees uncertain about the future of their jobs. Shayon Siriwuardhana has worked for Covered Bridge for nearly five years. He was one of the plant supervisors evacuated from the plant when the fire broke out.

Shayon Siriwuardhana was supervising a section of the Covered Bridge Potato Chips company the day staff were evacuated due to a fire.(Courtesy: CBC)

Shayon Siriwuardhana:

"After like twenty minutes into it, I knew it [was] going to be ... a job-ending-fire kind of a deal. That's what we all felt at that moment — like tomorrow, there's not going to be work any more."

Albright said that when the fire hit, the company had between 195 and 200 staff. The week of the fire, he said they had to lay off about 120 people. Nearly six months later, Albright said the team is back up to about 95 employees, and he expects that number to reach 100 in the coming weeks to support production in Woodstock. Shayon Siriwuardhana:

"You see how far we've come in [a] few months over here. That was the fire burning in us to keep going forward."

As for next steps, Albright is hoping to add a fryer to the new space in Woodstock so they can again make chips in-house.