Utz Quality Foods, Inc.

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Utz Quality Foods

Type	Snack foods
Current owner	Michael Rice
Country of origin	United States
Previous owners	1921 - William and Salie Utz 1968 - Francis Rice
Website	Utz Quality Foods - Official website

Utz Quality Foods, Inc. (IPA: /ˈʌts/, rhyming 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 eastern United States.

1 History
2 Products
3 Distribution
4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 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 the 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.

[edit] 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 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Products

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, popcorn and party mix, offering over 90 flavors or varieties of snacks in total. Specialty items include chocolate-covered pretzels, seasonal pretzel barrels and sports mixes.

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.

[edit] Distribution

Utz’s current distribution area spans from Maine to North Carolina, using 33 distribution centers along the East Coast of the United States. Utz utilizes a fleet of 800 sales people 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.