Potato chipmaker Utz Brands plans to buy Chicago-based Vitner’s as it seeks a bigger bite of the salty snacks market in the Midwest.
Utz Quality Foods, a subsidiary of Hanover, Pennsylvania-based Utz Brands, announced Monday that it has agreed to pay $25 million to Snak King to acquire certain parts of Vitner’s, including its trademark, intellectual property and distribution assets.
Vitner’s, founded in 1926 on Chicago’s South Side as the C.J. Vitner Company, was one of the oldest family-run snack food companies in the U.S. when it was purchased by California-based Snak King in 2011. Snak King, which has manufacturing facilities in California as well as in Freeport, Illinois, makes private-label snacks for large food corporations as well as under The Whole Earth, El Sabroso, Granny Goose and Jensen’s Orchard brands.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the acquisition will mean for jobs at Vitner’s. Utz said it plans to transition manufacturing of most Vitner’s products to its own plants after the sale.
Utz plans to use Vitner’s 55 direct-store-delivery routes to grow its own brands in the area, including its namesake snacks as well as On the Border, Zapp’s, Golden Flake, Good Health and Tortiyahs. After the acquisition, Utz said it will jump from the No. 7 player in the Chicago area’s $688 million salty snacks market to No. 4.
“This transaction is a continuation of our strategy to successfully build long-term value and share by expanding in major metropolitan areas, like we did in New York City in 1994, Boston in 2004, Pittsburgh in 2006 and Atlanta in 2011,” Dylan Lissette, CEO of Utz, said in a news release. “This acquisition strengthens our competitive position and will be a spark for continued growth in the Midwest.”
The Vitner’s purchase marks Utz’s third major acquisition since it went public in August. The company in November announced it was buying the On the Border brand for $480 million and a month earlier bought H.K. Anderson peanut butter-filled pretzels from Conagra Brands. In 2019 Utz bought Snyder of Berlin from Conagra and merged with Kitchen Cooked, headquartered in Farmington, Illinois.
Snacking has been on the rise in the U.S. for years as people get away from eating three square meals a day. The behavior accelerated during the pandemic. Sales of salty snacks in the Chicago market rose 9% during the 52 weeks ended Nov. 29, according to IRI data cited by Utz.
Vitner’s has over 100 products, including potato chips, popcorn, corn chips, pork rinds and Sizzling Hot Crunchy Cheese Kurls. According to the brand’s website, the C.J. Vinter’s Company began as five storefront shops on the South Side selling candy, magazines, tobacco and ice cream, but when the Great Depression nearly wiped out the business the owners pivoted to selling snacks directly to taverns, which were flourishing despite the economic downturn.
“We are thrilled to see the Vitner’s brand, established almost 95 years ago, become part of the Utz Brands, Inc. platform,” Barry Levin, CEO of Snak King, said in the news release. “Utz will be able to leverage its world-class family of brands and expertise in DSD operations to help Vitner’s continue to serve the Chicago market.”
