Utz to Buy Vitner’s Potato Chips for USD25m

Utz Brands Inc., announced it is set to acquire Chicago-based Vitner’s brand of potato chips, popcorn, and cheese and corn snacks for USD25m. The chip and pretzel brand said that subsidiary Utz Quality Foods LLC has agreed to buy the Vitner’s brand from its parent company, Snak-King Corp. Vitner’s, founded in 1926, is a leading brand of snack foods in the Chicago metro area.

The Utz company went public in August after the former family-owned snack maker merged with consumer goods acquisition firm Collier Creek Holdings. The company at the time said the deal would allow it to aim at becoming the fastest-growing branded snack company in a growing salty snack category.

Utz said the Vitner’s deal would give it a stronger foothold in the Midwest and Chicago, the fourth largest salty snack market in the United States, to grow its brands, which include Utz, On The Border, Zapp’s, Golden Flake, Tortiyahs! and others. Utz plans to transfer the manufacturing of Vitner’s products to its own plants after a planned February 8 closing.

The deal fits a strategy of expanding in major metro areas, Utz CEO Dylan LIssette said in the announcement. Utz launched expansions into New York City in 1994, Boston in 2004, Pittsburgh in 2006 and Atlanta in 2011.