HANOVER, PA. — Utz Brands, Inc. has acquired certain distribution rights in the Central Florida region from National Food Corp., an existing third-party direct-store delivery distributor. The acquisition of the 21 DSD routes is expected to accelerate Utz’s share of the salty snack category across Central Florida, including Orlando, Tampa and Sarasota.

In 2020, Utz generated retail salty snack sales of $48 million in Florida, representing about 2.6% of the state’s $1.8 billion retail salty snacks market, according to Information Resources, Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm. Overall, Florida’s salty snacks sales increased 7.7% between 2019 and 2020, with Utz’s sales climbing 16.6% during the same period, IRI noted.

Utz offers products under the Utz, Bachman, Zapp’s, Dirty, Golden Flake, Good Health, Snikiddy, Boulder Canyon, TGI Fridays Snacks and Tortiyahs! brands.

“We are excited about this continued investment in the Central Florida region, as it offers a tremendous opportunity to accelerate our sales growth,” said Steve Liantonio, senior vice president, national sales operations of Utz. “This strategic acquisition will expand our reach to customers and consumers, and better enables Utz to attract new buyers and introduce a steady flow of snacking innovation. The acquisition is consistent with our strategy of unlocking geographic white space opportunities, and we look forward to expanding our presence in the state of Florida.”