Utz Acquires Kitchen Cooked Snack Brand

Utz Quality Foods LLC has announced it has completed the merger with Kitchen Cooked Inc. The acquisition includes the Kitchen Cooked snack food brand, direct store delivery (aka DSD) operations and its manufacturing operations.

Kitchen Cooked is known for its potato chips range, as well as pretzels and popcorn products.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to add this important snack food brand and set of capabilities to our portfolio. Since the 1930s, Kitchen Cooked brings a strong consumer following and unique craft heritage in its core markets. Their distribution and manufacturing capabilities, along with the customer relationships, enhance our ability to grow our Utz brand portfolio further west,” said Dylan Lissette, chief executive officer at Utz Quality Foods.

Recently, Utz has entered a definitive agreement with Conagra Brands to acquire the latter’s DSD snack business, in a bid to further expand its reach. The sale includes brands such as Tim’s Cascade Snacks, Erin’s, Snyder of Berlin, Husman’s and Hawaiian Snacks.