Herr's puts Crabfries in chip form
A Herr's executive eating at Chickie's & Pete's got the idea.
They've been on grocery shelves for several weeks, but Ed Herr - head of Chester County's Herr Foods - visited the South Philadelphia location of Chickie's & Pete's on Tuesday to formally introduce potato chips flavored like Crabfries, the sports bar's seasoned fries.
Bob Clark, Herr's vice president of marketing, said he was eating there awhile back when the potato-meets-potato idea struck.
Seasoned, crinkle-cut fries may not exactly be rocket science, but it was Chickie's & Pete's owner Pete Ciarrocchi who obtained a trademark on the word Crabfries, which were first sold in 1977 at the Chickie's & Pete's flagship on Robbins Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.
There's no crab on top of fries sold at the restaurants; melted cheese is offered on the side.
It took nine months of R&D to accuately season the Herr's ripple chips with a mixture of crab seasoning and a white cheese sauce, Ciarrocchi said.
Clark said the initial run of Crabfries chips are the 2.875-ounce size ($1.49 at retail). Eight-ounce bags, retailing at $3.29, will be available soon.