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Utz Brands

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Utz Brands, Inc.
Company typePublic
NYSE: UTZ
Founded1921; 103 years ago (1921)
FoundersWilliam and Salie Utz
HeadquartersHanover, Pennsylvania
Key people
Dylan Lissette (chairman)[1]
Howard Friedman (CEO)[2]
ProductsSnack foods
RevenueIncrease US$1.181 billion (2021)[3]
Increase US$2.5 million (2021)[4]
Increase US$16.2 million (2020)[5]
Total assetsIncrease US$10.56 million (2020)[6]
Number of employees
2,000 (2021)
Websitewww.utzsnacks.com

Utz Brands, Inc. (/ˈʌts/), more commonly known as Utz, is an American snack food company[7] based in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The company produces a variety of potato chips, pretzels, and other snacks, with most products sold under their family of brands. Utz is also a snack supplier to warehouse clubs and merchandisers.[8]

History

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Early years

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Utz Brands began in 1921 as Hanover Home Brand Potato Chips when William and Salie Utz began making potato chips out of their home in Hanover, Pennsylvania[9] with an initial investment of $300.[10][11] The hand-operated equipment used at the time produced approximately 50 pounds of potato chips per hour. Salie cooked chips and Bill delivered them to local grocery stores and farmers’ markets in the Hanover and Baltimore, Maryland areas.

The couple relocated the company's operations to a concrete building in the family's backyard. In 1938, production was boosted with the purchase of an automatic fryer capable of producing 300 pounds of chips an hour.

Post-war years and expansion

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In 1938, Francis Xavier Rice joined the company after marrying Arlene Utz. In 1949, post-war success allowed the company to build a new production facility on 10 acres (40,000 m2) in Hanover. Salie and Bill died in 1965 and 1968, respectively, at which time Rice became president of the company.[11]

The company purchased two more Hanover-based production facilities during the 1970s. Rice retired in 1978, and his son Michael became company president, while Arlene Utz Rice remained as the company's chairman of the board. Utz's largest production facility and its current administrative headquarters was completed in 1983.[11]

Modern era

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During the late 1980s, sales of Utz pretzels grew by 20 percent annually; by 1991, pretzel sales composed almost 10 percent of total revenue. By the middle of the decade, annual sales of Utz products topped $100 million. At that time, the company had a workforce of one thousand employees.

A 2009 plan to merge Utz with rival Snyder's of Hanover was abandoned after an antitrust inquiry by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.[12]

In 2011, Utz Brands acquired Zappe Endeavors and its affiliated entities, which manufacture and market Zapp's, Dirty's, and California Chips brand potato chips.[7] This acquisition included Zapp's plants in Louisiana, California, and Pennsylvania, thereby making Utz a national snack food manufacturer overnight. Management of Zappe remained in place after the acquisition.

In 2011, Utz acquired the Wachusett Potato Chip Company in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.[13] In 2012, Utz Brands acquired The Bachman Company[9] with Utz buying the intellectual property rights, distribution, and Ephrata manufacturing facility; however, the Bachman family continued to use its Reading and Hyde Park facilities under the name Savor Street Foods Inc. to make private label products and other goods for Utz. Utz Brands remained family-operated at that time, with Michael Rice as chairman and his son-in-law Dylan Lissette as chief executive officer.[9]

In 2016, Utz Brands acquired snack food company Golden Flake.[14] In December 2017, Utz acquired Phoenix-based Inventure Foods, Inc. which manufactured specialty food brands including Boulder Canyon Foods (founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1994), TGI Fridays, and Vidalia.[15][16][17]

In October 2019, Utz acquired rival snack food company Snyder of Berlin in Berlin, Pennsylvania (not to be confused with Snyder's of Hanover) from Pinnacle Foods.[18] In August 2020, Utz became a publicly traded company after combining with Collier Creek Holdings.[19][20] Utz announced in November 2020 that it would acquire Truco Enterprises for $480 million.[21][22] They announced in January 2021 that they would acquire Vitner's for $25 million.[23] In May 2021, Utz acquired the supplier Fastida Foods for $41 million.[24] In December 2021, Utz acquired R.W. Garcia for $56 million.[25]

In January 2022, Utz acquired the distribution companies Clem Snacks and J&D Snacks.[26] In February 2022, Utz bought a manufacturing plant from Evans Foods Group for $38.4 million.[27] In April 2023, Utz Brands announced that the Golden Flakes factory in Birmingham, Alabama will cease operations around July 3, 2023.[28]

Sponsorship

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Until the 2012 season, Utz was a sponsor of the New York Yankees and had been part of the right field of Yankee Stadium for many seasons. The company also sponsored the Philadelphia Phillies.[29]

Utz currently sponsors the Baltimore Orioles and the Pittsburgh Pirates.[30] Utz has also sponsored the Philadelphia Eagles for multiple seasons. In addition, Utz became the official vendor of all pre-packaged snacks for the Baltimore Ravens starting in 2014.[31] Also, Utz sponsors the Connecticut Tigers & Erie SeaWolves, of Minor League Baseball.

In 2018, the company signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball to become the league's "official salty snack."[32] The following year, Utz became the presenting sponsor of the 2019 National League Division Series.[33]

Products

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Utz manufactures a wide variety of potato chips and pretzels – 1,000,000 pounds (450,000 kg) of potato chips and 900,000 pounds (410,000 kg) of pretzels every week. Utz also produces cheese curls, sunflower chips, tortilla chips, popcorn, pork rinds, and party mix. Specialty items include chocolate-covered pretzels, seasonal pretzel barrels and sports mixes. Utz also carries dips, salsas, and crackers.

In total, Utz makes 395 different types and flavors of snacks.[9]

Utz regular potato chips are cooked in cottonseed oil; its Kettle Classic line in peanut oil; and its Grandma Utz varieties in lard. Additionally, Utz produces an organic product line, which includes products certified organic by Quality Assurance International, as well as a "natural" product line that includes, potato chips cooked in sunflower oil. The company incorporates the "Snacking Smart" icon on a number of its products, indicating a healthier snacking choice to the consumer.

Mail order and online store

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During the mid-1980s, Utz started a catalog mail order service allowing consumers to order Utz products by phone for home delivery. In 1998, Utz added online ordering at their website utzsnacks.com.

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The official mascot of Utz Brands is the Little Utz Girl, or more commonly known as the Utz Girl. She has appeared on Utz snack food packages and/or in the company logo since the 1920s. During the early years, she was drawn from a realistic perspective as a young, dark-haired girl with a bow, bob hairstyle, and blushing cheeks, and shown reaching into a bag of potato chips.

In 1961, the Little Utz Girl was redesigned by the Baltimore advertising agency Torrieri-Myers Advertising. At that time the icon's head became a circle and was inspired by the National Bohemian Beer logo that today is known as "The Natty Bo Guy."[34] Later iterations of the Utz logo portrayed the "U" in the Utz wordmark doubling as the potato chip bag she reached into. Designers also altered the color of the logo to match the flavor of potato chips or variety of snacks it represented, with the Utz Girl's hair being one color and her bow, blush, and shirt being another color.

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Utz potato chips were featured in season two of Mad Men when the character, comedian Jimmy Barrett, was hired as a spokesperson for a fictional marketing campaign.

Utz products, especially potato chips, were featured in the background scenery of many episodes of the American TV show The Office, set in the US city of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Utz products are seen in the background of a local interview at the beginning of the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Utz Board of Directors". UTZ. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  2. ^ "Utz Executive Management". UTZ. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  3. ^ "Utz Brands Inc. 2021". NYSE. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  4. ^ "Utz Brands Inc. 2021". NYSE. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  5. ^ "Utz Brands Inc. 2021". NYSE. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  6. ^ "Utz Brands Inc. 2021". NYSE. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  7. ^ a b DiStefano, Joseph N. (7 January 2011). "Two potato: Chip king Utz buys Dirty and Zapp's". philly.com. The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  8. ^ Dan Malovany (October 25, 2021). "Utz transforms itself into a national snack powerhouse". www.bakingbusiness.com. Archived from the original on 2022-08-12. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  9. ^ a b c d Sellers, Patricia (4 March 2015). "The secretive snack company that Warren Buffett loves". Fortune Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  10. ^ "About". Utz Quality Foods. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved Jun 12, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c "Our Timeline | Utz Quality Foods - History of Utz Brand, Est. 1921". Utz Quality Foods. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved Jun 12, 2019.
  12. ^ Corkery, Michael (4 November 2009). "Protecting the Public from a Pretzel Monopoly". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  13. ^ Schroeder, Eric (October 24, 2011). "Utz acquires Massachusetts potato chip company". Baking Business. Archived from the original on 2022-05-22. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  14. ^ "Utz to Acquire Golden Flake". Cspdailynews.com. July 19, 2016. Archived from the original on 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  15. ^ Wiles, Russ (October 27, 2017). "Inventure Foods, Phoenix snack-foods maker, agrees to be acquired by Pennsylvania company for $165 million". Azcentral.com. Archived from the original on 2022-05-22. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  16. ^ Inc, Inventure Foods (2017-10-26). "Inventure Foods, Inc. to be Acquired by Utz Quality Foods, LLC". Globe Newswire. Archived from the original on 2022-05-22. Retrieved 2022-05-22. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  17. ^ "Utz Quality Foods, LLC Successfully Completes Cash Tender Offer for Shares of Inventure Foods, Inc". Berkshire Hathaway. Business Wire. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  18. ^ Napsha, Joe (25 October 2019). "Utz buys rival Snyder of Berlin". Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Utz Quality Foods and Collier Creek Holdings Complete Business Combination to Form Utz Brands, Inc". Business Wire. August 28, 2020. Archived from the original on June 12, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  20. ^ "After August 2020 SPAC Merger, January 2021 TL Refinancing, Utz's Debt Documents Provide Significant Capacity for Additional Investments, Secured Debt". Reorg. March 4, 2021. Archived from the original on April 8, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  21. ^ Wood, Sam (November 13, 2020). "Utz, the Pa.-based snack company, will pay a half-billion for tortilla chip producer of On the Border brands". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  22. ^ "Utz Brands to acquire Truco Enterprises". Food Business News. November 12, 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  23. ^ "Utz Brands to acquire Vitner's snack brand". Food Business News. January 11, 2021. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  24. ^ "Utz to buy chip supplier for $41M in move to cut costs and grow its brands". Food Dive. May 11, 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  25. ^ "Utz acquires snack manufacturer for $56M". The Patriot-News. 2021-12-27. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  26. ^ "Utz Brands to Acquire Clem Snacks and J&D Snacks". Business Wire. 2022-01-24. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  27. ^ "Utz Brands acquires North Carolina manufacturing plant". Baking Business. February 5, 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  28. ^ WBRC Staff; Blake, Lynden (2023-04-26). "Utz Brands closing Golden Flake Factory in Birmingham". April 26, 2023. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  29. ^ "How old are these 20 iconic snack food companies?". Yardbarker. 2023-08-19. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  30. ^ "Utz partners with MLB in its first major sports league sponsorship". MLB.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-16. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  31. ^ "news Utz takes over as salty snacks partner of the Baltimore Ravens". The Business Journals. April 28, 2014. Archived from the original on 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
  32. ^ Brown, Maury. "With Multi-Year Deal, UTZ Becomes 'Official Salty Snack of Major League Baseball'". Forbes. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  33. ^ Brick, Kevin. "Utz® To Be Presenting Sponsor of The National League Division Series" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  34. ^ Howard E. Cohen, b.1935
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