By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
HYANNIS – They may not have invented the kettle chip, but Cape Cod Chips founders Steve Bernard and his brother Jude certainly helped in bringing a delicious, crunchy style of potato chip into prominence. Born in 1947, Steve Bernard graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in economics. A restless adventurer, he and a friend spent the decade following his graduation crossing the country by hitchhiking, fighting forest fires and working on a boat in Alaska, installing car sunroofs, sailing to the Caribbean, working with chickens and catching tuna.
A healthier process
Not long after tasting a natural potato chip from a company based in Hawaii, Steve sold his auto parts business in 1980 in lieu of starting a potato chip business using a healthier process. With no real experience except for a week-long course on potato chip making at Martin’s Potato Chips in Thomasville, Pennsylvania, Steve Bernard launched Cape Cod Chips in 1980 in Hyannis. He purchased an 800-square foot storefront in a prime tourist attraction area and bought an industrial potato slicer for $3,000.
Instead of dumping potato slices in a tub of oil to travel on a conveyor belt, his Cape Cod chips were cooked in batches in kettles, fried in a shallow vat of oil while stirred with a rake, resulting in a flavorful chip with a hearty crunch and containing less than 40% of the fat found in other brands of potato chips.
In pop culture
Potato chips have been a favorite snack for generations and generations. Notably, the Cape Cod brand has proven to be among a favorite with many, earning some wide visibility. Its familiar white packaging with a drawing of the Nauset lighthouse in Eastham makes it stand out on store shelves and evokes memories of Cape vacations. In 1999 on Episode 21, Season 6 (“The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth’s Dad”) of the hit sitcom “Friends,” Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan (Lisa Kudrow) is seen eating a bag of Cape Cod Chips’ white-cheddar popcorn.
Japanese jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara recorded a composition titled “Cape Cod Chips” on her 2009 solo piano album “Place to Be.” In 2012. Cape Cod Potato Chips premiered a television commercial featuring a band of computer-generate seagulls performing A Flock of Seagulls’ 1982 hit “I Ran So Far Away.” It was the company’s first commercial made for television. On rapper Lil Wayne’s mixtape “Sorry 4 the wait 2” in the song “No Haters,” Cape Cod Chips are referenced in the lyrics “Pockets lookin’ like the Blob, chips like Cape Cod.”
Anheuser-Busch acquired the company in 1985 but Bernard bought the company and its factory back from Anheuser-Busch after the beverage giant decided to shut down its snack food operations. Lance Inc., a snack food company, bought it from Bernard in 1999. In 2010, Lance Inc. merged with Snyder’s of Hanover and Campbell Soup Company would eventually acquire Snyder’s of Hanover in December 2017.
Later ventures
Bernard opened a sandwich shop and made croutons from leftover bread which led to the creation of Chatham Village Foods. He later sold the company to T. Marzetti Company. After his daughter Nicole Dawes lured him out of his attempt of retirement, the two co-founded Late July Organic Snacks which produced organic cookies and crackers in 2001. Dawes once said it had been her dream since she was little girl to collaborate with her father. In 2020, Cape Cod Potato Chips celebrated its 40th anniversary by donating $40,000 to the Cape & Islands United Way (CIUW) organization’s Food Security efforts.
A resident of Marstons Mills and Sanibel, Florida, Bernard passed away at age 61 in 2009 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was survived by his wife Lynn, daughter Nicole, two grandchildren, one sister and three brothers including Jude Bernard.
RELATED CONTENT:
The chocolate chip cookie was created in a Whitman inn
Boston baked beans have stood the test of time
