nosh nook #159 - thursday, october 22, 2009

pending approval, snyder's to acquire utz (link)
10.22.09 - york daily record - by sean adkins

one summer, when i was but a prepubescent boy, my family rented a caravan & drove down to hershey, PA to visit hershey park. we never did disney world or land, but we did do busch gardens (virginia) as part of a joint colonial williamsburg trip one summer & hershey another summer...deliciously fun. besides hershey, pennsylvania's home to some of the prominent snack food manufacturers. there's utz, which has been around since the harding administration. there's wise potato chips, which is surprisingly not owned by some food conglomerate. there are the two snyders--snyder of berlin & snyder's of hanover. twizzlers (now owned by hershey) & planters (now owned by kraft) both got their start there. snackwise, it's pretty much the best state.

as the york daily record reports, the big news in the PA snack world this week is that, pending FTC approval, two of the hanover businesses--utz & snyder's--are becoming one, as snyder has gobbled up utz. luckily for the town of hanover, carl e lee, jr (president/CEO of snyder's) "doesn't anticipate any job losses as a result of the sale." in fact, combining the two companies will "lead to additional sales and manufacturing jobs...as (they) grow both brands and expand the new company." one worker noted that it would help them better compete with frito-lay. i'm all for that.

at the moment, utz is primarily based on the east coast, but snyder's is a nationwide brand with four times more sales than utz & has been around for over a decade longer. i know all this because in the article, the york daily record does a darn good job of breaking down what the deal means for both companies & their workers. they even include a little "at a glance" segment at the end to reinforce the key points of the deal. from what they tell me, it looks like it's a good deal for all involved. anyway, some solid reporting there, mr adkins. snack on, hanover.