Utz Brands

For other uses, see Utz (disambiguation).

Utz Quality Foods, Inc.

Utz logo
Product type	Snack foods
Owner	Michael W. Rice
Country	United States
Introduced	1921
Previous owners	William and Salie Utz (1921) Francis X. Rice (1968)
Website	http://www.utzsnacks.com/

Utz Quality Foods, Inc. (Template:Pron-en, rhymes with "nuts"), based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, is the largest independent privately held snack brand in the United States. The company was founded in 1921 and distributes a variety of potato chips and other snack foods throughout the United States.

History

Early years

Utz Quality Foods 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, with an initial investment of $300. The hand-operated equipment used at the time produced approximately 50 pounds of potato chips per hour. After Salie cooked the chips, Bill delivered them to local grocery stores and farmers’ markets in the Hanover and Baltimore, Maryland, areas.

Success soon allowed Bill and Salie to move operations to a small cement 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 per hour.

Post-War Years and Expansion

In 1938, Francis Xavier “F.X.” Rice joined the Utz Company after marrying Arlene Utz, William and Salie Utz’s daughter. In 1949, post-war success allowed the company to build a new production facility on 10 acres (40,000 m²) in Hanover. F.X. Rice became president of the company in 1968, after the passing of Salie Utz in 1965 and Bill Utz three years later.

The 1970s began with the 50th Anniversary celebration of the company and saw the purchase of two more Hanover-based production facilities. F.X. Rice retired in 1978. The Rices’ son, Michael, succeeded F.X. as company president, while Arlene Utz Rice remained as the company’s board chairperson. Utz’s largest production facility and home of its current administrative headquarters was completed in 1983.

Modern Era

In the late 1980s, sales of Utz pretzels began growing by 20 percent annually and, by 1991, pretzel sales comprised almost 10 percent of total revenue. In the summer of 1992, Utz added a third pretzel oven and began baking pretzels around the clock. By the middle of the decade, annual sales of Utz products topped $100 million and its employee base had reached 1,000.

In 1996, the company celebrated its 75th anniversary. By 1999, a new public website also allowed customers to purchase Utz products for at-home delivery. As the 21st century approached, Utz employed 1,300 with annual revenues exceeding $150 million. In 2004, sales reached $235 million annually, spurred in part by market expansion, a targeted advertising campaign in the New York City metropolitan region and a 2001 Consumer Reports taste test ranking Utz as the best tasting potato chip in the nation.

Today, Utz Quality Foods remains family-owned, with products manufactured at four separate Hanover facilities.

Sponsorship

Utz is sponsor of the New York Yankees and has been part of the right field of Yankee Stadium for many seasons.

Products

File:Utz Products.JPG

Utz Original, Sour Dough Pretzels and Cheese Curls.

Utz manufactures a wide variety of potato chips and pretzels – one million pounds of potato chips and 900,000 pounds of pretzels every week. Utz also produces cheese curls, sunflower chips, tortilla chips (baked, natural, white and yellow corn, and restaurant style), popcorn, pork rinds (plain, BBQ, salt & vinegar, spicy) and party mix, offering over 90 flavors or varieties of snacks in total, (plain, salt and pepper, salt and vinegar, bbq, sour cream & onion, cheddar & sour cream, honey BBQ, "Crab Chips", "Carolina Style Bar-B-Q", red hot, wavy, rippled, salt & malt vinegar, gourmet medleys, "Smokin' Sweet", jalapeño, sweet potato, onion and garlic, "Grandma Utz Handcooked", thin pretzels, special pretzels, hard sourdough pretzels, "Everything Pretzels", butter sticks, "Country Store Pretzel Stix", pretzel rods, and pretzel sticks). Specialty items include chocolate-covered pretzels, seasonal pretzel barrels and sports mixes. Utz also carries dips (sour cream & onion, mild cheddar, and jalapeño cheddar), salsas, and crackers.

Utz regular potato chips are cooked in cottonseed oil, while its Kettle Classic line is cooked in peanut oil. 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.

Distribution

Utz’s current distribution area spans from Maine to Georgia, using 33 distribution centers along the East Coast of the United States. Utz utilizes a fleet of 800 salespeople and company trucks to deliver products directly to the store. Various products manufactured by Utz are also sold through warehouse club stores across the United States.

In 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 Utzsnacks.com.

In popular culture

Utz potato chips (along with the slogan “Utz Are Better Than Nuts”) formed part of an ongoing secondary plot in several episodes of the second season of the AMC television series Mad Men.

Utz snacks can be seen during a scene in My Bloody Valentine. Utz snacks can also be seen during a surveillance scene in The Wire episode "The Cost". In the Tony Scott film Enemy of the State, Gene Hackman's character deposits bugs and tracking devices taken from Will Smith's character into an Utz mylar foil chip bag. Utz snack foods can also be seen in many episodes of the US sitcom The Office either being consumed by various staff members or on display in the vending machine. They are prominently seen being eaten by Michael Scott in the Season 7 episode, "PDA", in which he becomes covered in cheese balls. Utz is seen in Laid to Rest in the ending scene, which takes place in a convenience store. Utz products are also present in numerous scenes in Hachiko: A Dog's Story.

Snyder's of Hanover Takeover

In 2009, a plan was announced for Snyder's of Hanover to purchase Utz. The acquisition would not have affected jobs, and all four Utz plants in Hanover, PA would have remained open in addition to Snyder's plant. Utz CEO Michael W. Rice would have joined the Snyder's Board of Directors. In November 2009, the merger was abandoned by the two snack food companies following a request for information from the FTC. Utz announced that it would discontinue pursuit of the merger rather than comply with the information request.

See also

• List of food companies

External links

• Utz Quality Foods official website
• Detailed history of Utz Quality Foods