At the UTZ factory tour in Hanover, Pennsylvania, you’ll see how they make their potato chips. UTZ also has an outlet store that you can visit to purchase souvenirs and a wide-variety of snack foods that the company produces.
This is a self-guided and free tour. Reservations are not required, though there are specific weekday-only hours. UTZ also highly recommends calling ahead to make sure the tour is available. Find their hours on their website here and their phone number to call to confirm their hours.
UTZ Factory Tour Parking
To take the tour, you’ll want to go to the UTZ factory, which is located at 900 High Street. The factory is large, so you’ll need to find the factory tour entrance and designated parking spaces. Once at the factory on High Street, tour signs pointed us around the corner to tour parking spaces on Kindig Lane. Look for the signs pictured below for parking.
Trucks will be pulling in and out of the factory, so be sure to use caution as you walk to the tour entrance. Once you reach the tour entrance, there will be a set of stairs to reach the tour. There is not an elevator available.
Once at the top of the stairs, there will be a lobby where the tour begins. A person will be at the desk to greet you, but there is not a fee to take the tour.
The factory tour does not allow photos or videos of the tour. You’ll walk down a long hallway that overlooks the factory floor. The tour will progress from seeing potatoes go into the machines, then they are sliced, salted, seasoned, and packaged.
Since it is a self-guided tour, I let the kids set the pace of the tour. When they show interest in a certain step of the progress, we stayed at that window. There are buttons on the wall that start a narration to explain what is happening on the factory floor. The machines that pack the bags and fold boxes were particularly interesting to the kids.
At the end of the tour, you’ll receive a snack bag of UTZ chips to enjoy. If you’d like to purchase more snacks, check out the factory outlet store. The UTZ factory outlet store is located at 861 Carlisle Street in Hanover. You’ll need to drive to the store, but it’s only a few minutes away from the tour location.
Tips for Visiting the UTZ Factory Tour
- Be sure to call ahead to confirm their hours of operation. Hours of the tour are limited and on weekdays.
- Watch for signs for the UTZ Factory Tour when you arrive. It’s a large factory, so it can be a bit confusing to find the tour location.
- There are coupons for the UTZ factory store that you can find at the factory tour desk.
- The tour is not stroller-friendly, as there are steps to each the windows that overlook the factory.
