Utz Chips Away At Competitors’ Hold On Midwest By Buying Vitner’s

CHICAGO, IL —Potato chip and salty snack maker Utz announced Tuesday that it plans to acquire iconic Chicago brand Vitner's. Utz Quality Foods, a subsidiary of parent company Utz Brands of Pennsylvania, said it will pay $25 million to Snak King Corp. for parts of Vitner's, including the Vitner's trademark and intellectual property.

In a release, Utz brands called Vitner's "a leading brand of snack foods in the Chicago metropolitan market." The sale is expected to close on Feb. 8.

Utz said Vitner's, established in 1926, will give the company "a strengthened foothold in Chicago and the Midwest from which to grow its Power Brands," including Utz, On the Border tortilla chips and salsa, Zapp's and Golden Flakes.

The Chicago market is the fourth largest salty snack market in the U.S., with $688 million in annual retail sales, Utz said, and the acquisition will move Utz from No. 7 to the No. 4 spot. The deal includes Vitner's potato chips, cheese snacks, corn snacks and popcorn

Most of Vitner's products are currently manufactured by Snak King, but Utz said it will transition manufacturing to its own plants.

Snak King has manufacturing facilities in California and Freeport, Illinois, the Chicago Tribune reported. The Illinois facility, with about 300 employees, makes dozens of other Snak King products and is not part of the sale.

"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 the news release. "This acquisition strengthens our competitive position and will be a spark for continued growth in the Midwest."

Now 95 years old, the C.J. Vitner Company started out as five storefronts on the South Side of Chicago selling candy, magazines, tobacco and ice cream, according to the Snak King website.

"The Great Depression nearly wiped out this family-owned business, and owners Marie and Charles Vitner were desperate to find a way to stay afloat," it said. "Recognizing that tavern businesses were flourishing despite the economic downturn, the C.J. Vitner Company began selling a new kind of product directly to the taverns — snacks. They were soon distributing three snacks — Popcorn, Potato Chips, and Pretzels — to a growing list of taverns all across Chicago."

Its products include cheese Crunchy Kurls in several flavors, Cheese Twists, Crunchy Nuggets, potato chips and popcorn ranging from gourmet cheddar to sizzlin' hot to the "downtown mix" of cheddar and caramel corn. On Facebook, Vitner's says, "we are the Chicago-style chip."