Zapp’s to get broader distribution, more jobs from merger deal

Zapp’s is merging with Utz Quality Foods, the biggest independently held snack company in the U.S. The deal, set to close in the first quarter of the year, will mean broader distribution for Zapp’s potato chips, and eventually more jobs and an expansion of its Gramercy plant. “We’ll be popping up in more places,” says Rod Olson, Zapp’s CEO. Zapp’s is mainly distributed from Texas to Alabama. Utz is a 95-year-old family-owned company that is the leading regional snack brand in the Northeast. Financial details were not disclosed. “We talk about this deal as more about a marriage, since we are both family companies,” Olson says. “But they’re the big horse.” The Zapp’s brand will continue on, and Olson says most of the additional hiring should happen at the company’s local plant, which employs about 100 people. Zapp’s also has plants in California and Pennsylvania. “Between years three and five, we’ll be making more stuff and varied stuff, other than kettle chips,” Olson says. Zapp’s was founded in 1985 by the late Ron Zappe. —Timothy Boone