Utz Acquires Vitner’s from Snak King Snak King, a leader in private brand and co-manufactured snack products, has been the primary producer of the Vitner’s chips and salty snacks products but will be handing that over to Utz. Hanover, Pa.-based Utz Brands and its subsidiary Utz Quality Foods have entered into an agreement with Snak King to acquire assets related to the Vitner’s brand for $25 million. The assets include the intellectual property, including the Vitner’s trademark, and direct-store-delivery distribution assets for Vitner’s products. Based in Chicago, Vitner’s is an iconic brand in the area with a large line of potato chips, cheese snacks, corn snacks and popcorn that will bolster the Utz company from the seventh ranked producer of salty snacks in the Chicago market to the fourth. The Chicago market is listed as the fourth largest salty snack market in the United States with approximately $688 million in annual retail sales, per IRI. With the acquisition, Utz plans to transition manufacturing of most of the Vitner’s products to its own manufacturing plants from Snak King, which has plants in Industry, Calif., and Freeport, Ill. Snak King is one of the largest producers of snacks for private label touching potato chips, tortilla chips, popcorn, kettle corn, caramel corn, extruded snacks (cheese puffs, cheese curls, nuggets), veggie chips, pop crisps, pork rinds and cracklins, as well as a complete offering of nut clusters, peanut and tree nut mixes, and specialty blends. “We are thrilled to see the Vitner’s brand, established almost 95 years ago, become part of the Utz Brands platform,” said Barry Levin, chief executive officer, Snak King. “Utz will be able to leverage its world-class family of brands and expertise in DSD operations to help Vitner’s continue to serve the Chicago market.” Utz expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in 2021 and beyond. “This strategic acquisition will make Utz a more significant competitor in the Chicago area. Combined with our recently announced acquisition of the On the Border tortilla chip, salsa and queso brand, we create a strong brand platform to better serve the primary salty snack channels and continue to expand rapidly in this important growth market,” said Dylan Lissette, chief executive officer of Utz. “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. This acquisition strengthens our competitive position and will be a spark for continued growth in the Midwest.” 8
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Amazon Tops dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index The fourth annual dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index has a new retail leader in the top spot — Amazon. The analysts said that in a year dominated by COVID-19 and its impact on retail and consumers’ lives, Amazon was able to jump the reigning top-two grocers H-E-B and Trader Joe’s, which slid to second and third, respectively, in the latest index. The index evaluates a retailer’s performance based on several drivers: price, quality, digital, operations, convenience, discounts, rewards, information and speed. This year, dunnhumby also included calculations from its COVID Momentum Metric, a statistical model that predicts how retailer execution on the same preference drivers’ impact shortterm financial success, namely market share gains or losses during 2020. The study also factors in a survey of 10,000 U.S. households for their feedback on retailer performance and studies retailer financial data. In the end, Amazon moved up to the top spot from No. 3 last year. “Amazon accelerated past every other retailer on our COVID Momentum Metric and customer safety ratings, due to its speed to shop and virtual store format,” said Grant Steadman, dunnhumby’s president, North America. “As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we should expect value perception to come back strongly. Beyond COVID, retailers with ‘Customer First’ strategies will best adapt to changing behaviors and deliver what matters most to their customers.” The top 14 retailers ranked in order are: Amazon, H-E-B, Trader Joe’s, Wegman’s, Aldi, Market Basket, Sam’s Club, Costco, Publix, Target, Fresh Thyme, ShopRite, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Walmart. The only new retailer to make the top 14 was Target, replacing Winco Foods, jumping six spots out of the second quartile last year, into this top quartile. The Chicago-based analysts said the index this year showed that retailers who focused their business on superior value perception — defined by the strongest combination of price and quality — tended to have the most financial success and the strongest emotional bond with customers.
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1/26/21 2:15 PM
