An American Maker Story
Route 11 Potato Chips
A Small Fry on a Virginia Highway
What started with a tiny cooker, a good recipe and an old feed-store location became one of Virginia’s distinctive small-batch food makers.
Mount Jackson, Virginia
Company home
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The maker story
The Story Behind Route 11 Potato Chips.
The Story Behind the Bag
1992
It Started Small. Really Small.
Route 11 Potato Chips began in Virginia in 1992 with a remarkably simple goal: make a really good potato chip.
The early crew worked from an old feed store in Middletown, Virginia. There was a tiny cooker, a garden rake, a recipe they believed in and the kind of determination that tends to accompany a new business before anyone knows exactly how far it might go.
The operation grew, but the basic philosophy did not change. Make something good. Use good ingredients. Pay attention to the process.
The Slow Way
Small Batch Still Means Small Batch.
Route 11 still kettle cooks its potato chips in individual batches rather than treating potatoes like one continuous industrial stream.
A current batch produces only about 20 pounds of chips. It takes more time and more attention, but that is exactly the point.
The result is the kind of chip Route 11 built its reputation around: crisp, curled, golden and just a little different from the one beside it.
≈20 Pounds Per Batch
Why You’ll Find It Here
Not Every American Story Happened Centuries Ago.
Some are still being made along state highways, inside regional factories and by businesses that decided there was still value in doing something the slower way.
Route 11 brings together several pieces of the American story we love: regional food, small manufacturing, road culture and a company that grew without losing the character that made people notice it.
The American Road isn’t just the road itself. It’s what you discover along the way.
The Next Chapter
2008
A New Factory. The Same Philosophy.
In 2008, Route 11 designed and built a new factory in Mount Jackson, Virginia specifically around its own potato-chip process.
The move allowed the company to grow while keeping the small-batch approach that made the chips distinctive in the first place.
It also gave Route 11 the opportunity to build environmental thinking directly into the facility rather than treating sustainability as something to add later.
Waste Less. Use More.
Even the Potato Peelings Have Somewhere to Go.
Route 11 describes its Mount Jackson operation as an ongoing effort to get as close to waste-free production as practical.
Feed the Neighbors
Potato peelings and rejected chips help feed a local herd of cattle.
Reuse the Heat
Heat exchangers on the cooking kettles help warm the facility during winter.
Recycle What You Can
Paper, glass, metal and plastic are recycled as part of the factory operation.
Stay Close to Home
The company uses local potato sources as much as practical, including Virginia growers during the local season.
From the General Store
Shop Route 11
Small-batch Virginia potato chips, selected for Party Like 1776 Again.
Route 11 Chips
$4.49Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
American Chapters
Their Story Along America’s Timeline.
Follow the chapters of American life. Select a period to explore its people, places and everyday traditions.
1992Route 11 Potato Chips · Maker roots
Periods overlap. A founding marker connects a maker’s roots to the wider history of that time; current products and flavors may be newer.