By DAVE SCHULTZ
The Utz plant in Bluffton was sold Friday to a Canadian company, Super-Pufft Snacks USA.
Utz acquired the former Inventure Foods facility at 505 W. Dustman Road and formally changed its name to Utz in 2019. The sale of the Bluffton plant is part of a major restructuring for Utz, which is based in Hanover, Pa.
The Bluffton facility will apparently be the first U.S.-based operation for Super-Pufft Snacks USA. According to the company’s website, it has a facility at its base in Mississaugua, Ontario, and three other facilities in Canada.
The decision by Utz to sell the Bluffton operation came from a decision to “maximize the impact of (the company’s) resources and footprint,” according to a statement by Kevin Brick, a company spokesman.
Brick added that the day-to-day operation of the Dustman Road facility will apparently not change much.
“We are grateful to our Bluffton manufacturing colleagues for their many contributions to Utz and know they will be in very good hands with Super-Pufft,” Brick said. “Notably, all Utz Bluffton associates have been offered positions with Super-Pufft, and Super-Pufft will continue to produce Utz products in the Bluffton facility.”
That continuing production of Utz-branded goods in Bluffton, however, may not be a long-term plan.
“Super-Pufft received real estate and manufacturing assets in the transaction, and in return, the company entered a newly established co-manufacturing relationship with Super-Pufft, under which Super-Pufft will manufacture certain TGIF products under favorable terms,” the announcement detailing Utz’s overall plan said. “Over time, the company expects to shift production of these products into Utz owned and operated manufacturing facilities.”
The sale of the Bluffton plant, the decision to close another production plant in Pennsylvania, as well as other decisions announced Friday, will leave Utz with 13 active plants, the announcement said.
Brick, in a separate statement, said Super-Pufft and Utz have “a strong historic partnership.”
“The purchase of the Bluffton plant greatly increases their capacity and provides them with a strategic location in the mid-west as they continue to expand,” Brick said.
Super-Pufft’s Canadian operations produce potato chips, kettle cooked chips, canister crisps, popcorn, extruded and fried pellet snacks, and pop chips, according to the Super-Pufft website. The company calls itself “one of North America’s largest manufacturers and co-packers of salty snacks for retailers and national brands.”
daves@news-banner.com
