• by Danielle Oster , February 2, 2024

A pair of Utz brands are passing hands to another company known for its salty snacks, Our Home.

Our Home, an operating company whose “better-for-you” food brands include Popchips and Food Should Taste Good, has agreed to acquire the Good Health and R.W. Garcia brands from Utz, along with its Lincolnton, North Carolina, and Lititz, Pennsylvania manufacturing facilities, and related assets. The deal is valued at around $182.5 million and expected to close on Feb. 5.

RW Garcia’s products include tortilla chips, corn chips and gluten-free crackers, while Good Health’s broader portfolio features pretzels, veggie chips, popcorn, puffs and fries.

According to Utz, the deal will result in after-tax net proceeds of around $150 million, which it will use to pay off long-term debts.

In a statement, Our Home founder and CEO Aaron Greenwald said the acquisition “significantly scales” the company’s “snacking platform” and manufacturing capabilities across the country.

Both companies will also operate under reciprocal co-manufacturing agreements following the deal with Our Home co-manufacturing certain Utz products and Utz co-manufacturing certain Good Health products. Certain Good Health products will also be distributed and sold as part of Utz’s network for Our Home, while Our Home will offer employment to Utz associates working inw the manufacturing facilities it acquires as part of the agreement.

The news comes off a quarter of strong retail sales for Utz company, with Utz seeing Q4 total retail sales increase 4.1% and its “power brands” increase 5.3%, according to Circana data cited by the company – well ahead of 2.8% growth for the salty snacks category. Utz positioned the transaction as aligned with its focus on optimizing its brand portfolio and supply chain efficiencies as it eyes expansion.

“We expect these transactions to deliver on our supply chain transformation and value creation initiatives, to fast-track our deleveraging timeline by a full year, and to accelerate our brand portfolio strategy to better optimize for growth," Utz CEO Howard Friedman said in a statement. “