Best Fries

Not even losing its prime downtown spot can keep Bud the Spud down. Last winter, the chip truck’s owners lost a competitive blind bid for the Spring Garden Road food truck space that Bud’s had held almost every summer since 1977. No matter for owners Kyle Conrod and Kathleen Porter, who bought the truck in 2021 and have been running it together since. It just meant opportunities to travel around Halifax—and, finally, a permanent home. Nowadays, you can find Bud the Spud at the new East Coast Lifestyle headquarters on Hobsons Lake Drive.

This year’s Best of Halifax gold marks the 15th in the Best Fries category for Bud the Spud, making it the first in the category to join The Coast’s BOH Hall of Fame. (More on that in the New Year.) Speaking with The Coast in 2022, Conrod said the annual honour “means everything because that’s kind of what makes us a successful small business.”