Company: UTZ
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001739566-25-000053
Chunk: 80

Company: Utz Brands, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 80
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 retail sales, we are the second-largest producer of branded salty snacks in our collective core geographies where we have acquired strong regional brands and distribution capabilities in recent years. 

Key Developments and Trends

Our management team monitors a number of developments and trends that could impact our revenue and profitability objectives.

Growth Strategy - We have a long-term growth strategy focusing on various initiatives and have experienced share gains in our Expansion geographies over the past six consecutive quarters with retail sales and retail volumes being up by 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively, for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2024.  Our portfolio strategy is focused on accelerating investments in marketing and innovation to drive top-line growth and achieve share gains in the attractive Salty Snack category. We plan to further penetrate our Expansion Geographies and untapped channels and customers by further expanding our Branded Salty Snacks in Expansion Geographies, as well as maintaining our share in our Core Geographies. Our Core Geographies retail sales and retail volumes were down 1.6% and up 0.6%, respectively, for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2024.

Long-Term Demographics, Consumer Trends, and Demand – We participate in the attractive and growing $39 billion U.S. salty snacks category, within the broader approximately $130 billion market for U.S. snack foods as of December 29, 2024, based on Circana data. The salty snacks category has grown retail sales at an approximate 7.8% compound annual growth rate ("CAGR") during 2020 through 2024 with a major spike in 2020 driven by consumption following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") and again from 2022 through 2023 driven by inflation, per Circana. In the last few years snacking occasions have held relatively stable as consumers continue to seek out convenient, delicious snacks for both on-the-go and at-home lifestyles. A 2024 study from Circana cites that 46% of consumers snack three or more times a day, down three points compared to a year ago but with no change versus five years ago. Additionally, the salty snacks category has historically benefited from favorable competitive dynamics, including low private label penetration and category leaders competing primarily through marketing and innovation. We expect these consumer trends to continue to drive consistent retail sales for salty snacks for the foreseeable future.

For the year ended December 29, 2024, U.S. retail sales for salty snacks based on Circ