Utz subsidiary purchases manufacturing facility

Utz Quality Foods, a subsidiary of Hanover-based Utz Brands, recently purchased a 125,000-square-foot snack food manufacturing facility in Kings Mountain, N.C., for approximately $38.4 million.

The facility was purchased from Evans Food Group Ltd. d/b/a Benestar Brands, a Chicago-based holding company for snack products brands. The sale includes the building, which can be expanded to 200,000-square-feet, and land and pork-rind production equipment.

The facility will support the growing demand for Utz brands in the Southeast, Northeast and Mid-South. The equipment will allow the company to enable multiline production of Utz’s key sub-categories.

“With continued growth and excitement for our snack food brands, we are very excited to expand our roots in North Carolina, where we will be adding over 115 new jobs over time,” Cary Devore, Utz Brands COO, said. “This is a strong step forward in optimizing our plant and logistics network, and it will allow us to in-source manufacturing across several product types that we currently outsource to some degree.”

Under the deal, Benestar will supply Utz with pork pellets.

Purchasing a facility is faster and more cost-effective than renovating an existing facility or constructing a new building from scratch, Utz says.

Utz produces pork rinds, cheese balls, potato chips, pretzels, tortilla chips, and other snacks.