Utz Quality Foods in Hanover, York County, has gobbled up one of its competitors.
On Wednesday, Snyder of Berlin, a Somerset County producer of pretzels, chips, popcorn and other snacks owned by Conagra Foods Inc., announced it had been sold to Utz, according to the Tribune-Review of Pittsburgh.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Conagra announced the sale on September 11 and the acquisition was completed on October 21, Conagra spokeswoman Kristine Mulsord told the Tribune.
She said the sale was part of a larger reorganization in which the company divested six other snack brands that involved delivering products to stores, which Conagra primarily does not do.
Conagra acquired Snyders last year by buying Pinnacle Foods Inc.
Utz is the largest family-owned, privately owned savory snack company in the country. It manufactures potato chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, onion rings and other snacks at 11 locations in Pennsylvania as well as five other states.
Utz did not provide details regarding the future of the Somerset plant, which employs around 320 workers, according to the story.
Snyder dates back to the 1920s when the Snyder family started making home fries at their summer home in Hannover. Eventually demand grew to the point that in 1947 the family joined other business owners and farmers to open the Somerset factory.
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In the 1950s, the Snyder brand split into two companies, one linked to Hanover and the other to Berlin. Snyder’s of Hanover is owned by Snyder’s-Lance, Inc., a subsidiary of Campbell Soup Company. It produces traditional German pretzels such as flavored pretzels, Butter Snaps and Olde Tyme varieties of pretzels.
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