Utz Brands will buy Vitner’s, a brand of potato chips and other salty snacks distributed in and around the Chicago area, for $25 million, the company announced Jan. 11.
Vitner’s is being sold by parent company Snak-King Corp., which makes salty snacks under brands including Granny Goose and El Sabroso, as well as private label. The deal will give Utz control of the Vitner’s brand and associated intellectual property, as well as assets for about 55 direct-store delivery routes in the Chicago area.
Utz plans to move the manufacturing of Vitner’s products from Snak King’s manufacturing facilities to its own. The acquisition is projected to move Utz from seventh to fourth in the Chicago-area salty snack market.
“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,” Utz CEO Dylan Lissette said in a statement.
