McKenna Brothers has grown substantially from its modest beginnings, when two brothers, John and Terence McKenna, invested their life savings in a struggling country store in Cardigan Head in 1952.

Through hard work, determination and forward thinking the brothers were able to turn the store's fortunes around. By the summer of 1954, the decision was made to construct a larger and more modern store next to the existing structure. The new store allowed the men to carry a wider selection of goods, ranging from groceries to hardware to clothing and children's toys.

With the purchase of the store in 1952, the brothers also began innocently dabbling in the potato business, not realizing the enormous potential this industry presented. They purchased their first shipping license for $5 and three pick-up trucks that were used for hauling potatoes from neighbouring farms back to waiting railcars behind the store.

In 1959, a warehouse was built adjacent to the railway which allowed Terence and John the luxury of storing and grading potatoes before loading them onto railcars bound for Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and everywhere in between.

John was responsible for purchasing and sales and he worked out of a tiny office at the back of the store. During the busy shipping season, he often worked 16-hour days sitting on a milk carton behind his old, beat-up desk. Terence was responsible for the grading and storing of potatoes in the warehouse as well as the strenuous job of loading potatoes and pulp onto waiting railcars.

As the potato business continued to grow John's sons, Kevin and Shawn, joined the sales team in 1983 and 1985 respectively. Ryan, Shawn's son & John's grandson, joined the company in 2006.

Only the most modern grading and packing equipment is used to ensure consistent quality and freshness in every bag and our state of the art facility allows us to cater to our customers ever growing needs. We have the capacity to store 25 million lbs of raw product in our temperature controlled facility with storage for an additional 500,000 lbs of finished product waiting to be shipped to its final destination from our refrigerated storage area.

Today, McKenna Bros. (1989) Limited proudly ships the highest quality Prince Edward Island potatoes and local produce to customers around the world. We supply leading retail & foodservice customers throughout Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the United States, Central & South America as well as the Caribbean.