Penobscott McCrum Opens New Fry Facility

Penobscott McCrum said that opening North America’s newest fry processing plant during COVID-19 was something the McCrum family was not expecting when they started planning for their expansion in early 2019.

The new facility in Washburn, Maine, actually started processing in late June and was commissioned in part using ‘virtual reality’ technology.

The facility has contracted over 1 million cwt (45,360 metric tons) of potatoes to meet the plant’s requirements for the rest of 2020. Longer term, the plant has a capacity to use a substantial percentage of the Maine potato crop per year.

The company said: “Adding fries to our product mix brings an incredible amount of value to our customers as well as the Maine potato industry. Not many people get the opportunity to open this kind of facility. For our family to see our potatoes (they are also growers) come to life in this form, promote Maine and our fellow growers in this way, is something that we are really fortunate to do.”