One potato, pretzel: Snyder's buying Utz
Snyder’s of Hanover plans to buy Utz Quality Foods Inc., uniting one of Pennsylvania's big local pretzel-bakers with one of the state's most aggressively-marketed potato-chip lines
Snyder's of Hanover plans to buy Utz Quality Foods Inc., uniting one of Pennsylvania's big local pretzel-bakers with one of the state's most aggressively-marketed potato-chip lines. Both businesses (like Philadelphia's Tastykake and Hershey Foods) have been under pressure as Americans' relationship with fatty, sweet, salty snacks gets more ambiguous.
Snyder's president Carl E. Lee Jr. and chairman Mike Warehime announced the deal; they didn't say what they're paying. Each company employs around 2,200. "Snyder's of Hanover plans to continue operations in all four of the Hanover, Pa., Utz plants, plus the Snyder's of Hanover's plant, and there will be no anticipated job losses," Lee said in a written statement.
Snyder's of Hanover (not to be confused with rival Snyder's of Berlin, Pa.) says it's keeping Utz's managers and plants. "This is the perfect marriage of two leading snack food companies whose relative business strengths are highly complementary in terms of product line and geographic reach," Warehime said in the statement.
Snyder's makes pretzels, Krunchers Kettle Chips, O-Ke-Doke Popcorn, and Jays Potato Chips, which it purchased in 2007 with Chicago-based Jays Foods and its Jeffersonville, Indiana plant, which stays open, as does its Goodyear, Ariz., plant, which serves the West.
Besides its own name brands, Utz makes Kettle Classic, Home Style and Mystic potato chips and crisps, along with pretzels, tortilla chips, cheese curls, popcorn, and "multi-grain sunflower chips" sold along the East Coast.