Utz Brands began in 1921 as “Hanover Home Brand Potato Chips” when William and Salie Utz began making potato chips out of their home in Hanover, Pennsylvania,[9] with an initial investment of $300.[10][11] The hand-operated equipment used at the time produced approximately 50 pounds of potato chips per hour. Salie cooked the chips and Bill delivered them to local grocery stores and farmers’ markets in the Hanover, Pennsylvania and Baltimore, Maryland, areas.
Success soon allowed the couple to move operations to a small concrete building in the family’s backyard. In 1938, production was boosted with the purchase of an automatic fryer capable of producing 300 pounds of chips per hour.
In the late 1980s, sales of Utz pretzels began growing by 20 percent annually and, by 1991, pretzel sales comprised almost 10 percent of total revenue. In the summer of 1992, Utz added a third pretzel oven and began baking pretzels around the clock. By the middle of the decade, annual sales of Utz products topped $100 million and its employee base had reached 1,000.
In 1996, the company celebrated its 75th anniversary. By 1999, a new public website also allowed customers to purchase Utz products for at-home delivery. As the 21st century approached, Utz employed 1,300 with annual revenues exceeding $150 million. In 2004, sales reached $235 million annually, spurred in part by market expansion, a targeted advertising campaign in the New York City metropolitan region and a 2001 Consumer Reports taste test ranking Utz as the best tasting potato chip in the nation.
Our True Colors group really enjoyed the experience. The administration team at UTZ are outstanding! Thank you for a wonderful visit.
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