A Tour of Canada’s Nostalgic Fry Trucks

For many years, the Riverview Snack Shack was one of the first sights road-trippers saw while driving west through Mattawa, Ontario. Wildflowers grew in the gravel around the reddish-brown shack, and Canadian flags hung above the outdoor counter beneath giant Mickey and Minnie Mouse decals. It was a must-try stop for anyone craving fries on the go.

This was where illustrators Chantal Bennett and Joel Kimmel often went when they drove from their home in the eastern Ontario village of Westport to Sudbury, to visit Bennett’s father. The couple placed their orders at the little serving hatch, then settled into a picnic table right by the sparkling Ottawa River. Gulls swept down to the ground and vied with the pair’s beagle, Peanut, for fallen fries.

The route was dotted with all kinds of chip stands. Around 2015, Kimmel started paying closer attention to their road-trip snack stops. Some were fairly conventional shacks and trucks; others were motorhomes or school buses. In Sudbury, one chip stand operated out of a shiny aluminum Airstream. Maybe, Kimmel told Bennett, the two of them should draw these unpretentious little establishments. After all, the chip stand was part of Bennett’s French-Canadian upbringing. In her mother’s hometown of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, one’s chip stand of choice was serious business. On the west side of Main Street was orange-and-black the Riv; on the east side was red-and-white Larry’s. “You had to pick your chip stand,” says Bennett. “It wasn’t until a few years ago that I tried the Riv. It felt treacherous.” As a Larry’s loyalist once told a TV interviewer: “None of my children better go across the road, or they’re disowned.”

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The couple spent the next decade working on the project. Whenever a long drive was in the cards, they’d poke around online to see if there were any spots to check out en route. Of course, many stands had no internet presence, so there was an element of serendipity to the whole thing. Once, while driving to southeast Ottawa to pick up a dog they were adopting, they happened upon a stand. Other times, a road trip was involved; in 2022, when a friend invited them to a wedding in Nova Scotia, they made a list of chip stands to seek out in the province, then drove east.

Bennett and Kimmel’s illustrations appear in a new book, The Chip Stand: 130 of Canada’s Iconic Food Landmarks. It’s a celebration of the country’s most eclectic roadside stops, but also a snapshot of a waning moment in time. Only 80 of the stands in the book still operate. Even the Riverview Snack Shack is no more. Some owners retired. Others couldn’t turn enough of a profit. When a stand is hauled out of its parking lot, all that’s left of it is memory—sometimes, not even that. As a child, Kimmel’s mom used to take him out for chips in downtown Ottawa. “It was a special treat. We’d go to the comic book store, and then afterward we’d go and share fries,” says Kimmel. But even he can’t remember what the chip wagon looked like anymore. 

Bennett and Kimmel hope that their book gives readers new appreciation the next time they’re standing in line on the side of the highway. Below, they share the stories behind their most whimsical illustrations.

Nibbler’s Fish and Chips, Spanish, Ontario
Bennet: “This chip stand did, in fact, have a lighthouse on its roof, but it was located in a very boring parking lot, between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie on Highway 17. At this point in the project, I was tired of drawing parking lots. So I put some rocks in front of it, as if it was perched on a cliff by the ocean. In reality, there’s no seaside anywhere nearby. I think they just had a lighthouse on top because they served fresh local fish.”

Chez Ma Tante, Montreal
Bennett: “This is a Montreal institution. I liked the neon signage and the chrome, so I wanted to do a night painting of it. It has a very limited menu, but it serves an unusual concoction: an Italian poutine, which has fries with tomato sauce, ground beef and cheese curds. That’s something that you’ll only find in Quebec.”

Dan’s Pizza, Cobden, Ontario
Bennett: “I’ve been driving along Highway 17 to Sudbury for around 30 years now, and Dan’s Pizza has been there for as long as I can remember. It’s always been in the same motorhome, with the same covered structure and wood panelling. We’ve only stopped to eat there once, in 2022.”

Jeannie’s Fries, Chaffey’s Lock, Ontario
Bennett: “Jeannie’s Fries was our favourite chip stand until it closed two summers ago. It was in an old Canada Post truck, and the owner, Cheryl, had run it for almost 20 years. Jeannie’s served a mean poutine, and some large trees nearby kept the seating area nice and shady in the summer. Unfortunately, it’s for sale now and the trees have been cut down. We have a lot of memories there; we went with family and friends all the time.”

Cantine Chez Ben, Granby, Quebec
Kimmel: “We visited the Eastern Townships a few years ago, but didn’t know that Cantine Chez Ben was nearby until we got home. So we missed it. Out of all the places in the book, this is the one I want to go to the most, and we might make a special trip there this year. I just love the audacity of building a nine-metre sign that lights up and moves. Most chip stands—in Ontario, anyway—just have a little A-frame sign that says something like ‘Chip Stand Ahead.’ ”

Jee’s Spuds, Brockville, Ontario
Kimmel: “Last year, I asked the owner, Jeff, if I could tour his chip stand. I’d never been inside one before. After a little convincing, he let me in. Like many owners, he kept a box of dog treats for four-legged visitors, a baseball bat—you never know—and crossword puzzles. There was a slow cooker where he made his gravy every day.”

Ye Olde Chip Truck, Kenora, Ontario
Kimmel: “This is an old-school chip stand that only serves french fries. They don’t even have ketchup! Just salt and vinegar. Its slogan is ‘10,000 seagulls can’t be wrong’ because of how many gulls swarm it, so I played around with hand-drawn type and drew a giant gull. The words at the bottom are from a review I found online.”

Herbert Fisheries, Killarney, Ontario
Kimmel: “This is one of my favourite paintings that I did for the book. We’d visited the truck before starting this project, so I’d had a reference photo for the longest time. I’m glad I did, because it was eventually replaced by an indoor restaurant. We’ve spoken to people who remember going here after camping in Killarney Provincial Park. Some of them would crave a poutine as soon as they left the woods, and this place was there, waiting for them.”

A&K Lick-A-Chick, Little Bras d’Or, Nova Scotia
Bennett: “I painted this in tonal watercolour first, then coloured it in digitally. I guess it’s my version of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. This place is less of a traditional chip stand because it’s open year-round and known for fried chicken. But it sells all of the usual chip-stand stuff, like poutine and fries, so it made the cut.”

Fries R’ Us, St. Thomas, Ontario
Bennett: "This is the only chip stand we’ve seen that’s located in an old streetcar. It’s even parked on a train track, which is obviously abandoned. I took a few artistic liberties with this illustration. The old-timey character on the bench wasn’t there in reality. I just added him in because it’s feasible that someone might sit there with a suitcase, eating fries.”

Kimmel: “I like how Chantal added the pylons, instead of prettying things up for the art. They’re in there because they really represent the chip stand.”

This story appears in the May 2026 issue of Maclean’s. You can subscribe to the magazine here or send a gift subscription here.