In 2018, a new company with a lineage of success entered the snack food industry – MAW Acquisitions was created to purchase G&S Foods, an Abbottstown, PA contract manufacturer that was founded in 1996 by entrepreneurs Steve Garvick and Dale Spahr.
MAW was the brainchild of Mike and Tricia Warehime. Mike Warehime was a legend in the snack food business who owned Snyder’s of Hanover and later became chairman of Snyder’s-Lance when the two firms merged in 2010 (the company is now owned by Campbell’s). The Warehime family’s legacy in the food industry dates back to the early 1920s (Mike’s dad Alan contributed to much of the success of Hanover Foods) and when Mike passed away in 2014, his wife Tricia, now managing partner of MAW, assumed some of her husband’s business responsibilities.
When asked what specifically prompted her to take the bold initiative to re-enter the snack food business, Tricia’s answer was simple: “We’ve always had a deep commitment to the community – that’s never changed. We also knew Steve and Dale professionally and personally from Snyder’s days and felt this was a business that had excellent growth potential.”
She wasted little time assembling a group of snack food industry professionals including Charles “Ed” Good (Snyder’s-Lance); Tom Dempsey (Utz); and Peter Michaud (Snyder’s-Lance) to serve on the company’s board of managers.
In 2021, she again reached back to her snack food roots and tapped Dan Morgan to join G&S as CEO and president.
Morgan had spent much of his career at Snyder’s and Snyder’s-Lance where he rose through the ranks to became chief sales officer. The Boston-area native also served as president and chief commercial officer of BFY Brands and helped build that firm’s popular PopCorners line into a dynamic brand which PepsiCo acquired in 2020. In addition to Morgan, G&S has also beefed up its senior leadership which now includes Tony Hartlaub, CFO/VP-finance; Tom Koppelmann, VP-sales, who recently joined G&S to fill the role of retiring Chuck Sinon; Wade Fitzkee, VP-operations; and Travis Grim, VP-R&D. The company already had a solid business foundation employing approximately 350 associates at an 110,000 square foot manufacturing facility that was built in 2000. Its customers consisted of 25-30 other manufacturers who contracted with G&S to enhance their current product lines (enrobing, seasonings) or to create products that they could not or chose not to manufacture at their plants because of capacity issues or capital concerns. G&S currently produces about 200 SKUs at the Abbottstown plant Like most food companies, G&S felt the impact of COVID as supply chain and labor challenges partially slowed initial progress, but over the past year G&S has been able to accelerate its growth plans, culminating in March of this year when the company announced it would build a new 348,000 square foot manufacturing facility on Blettner Avenue in Hanover, about eight miles from the current plant.
“We have an amazing workforce at our current Abbottstown facility that will join us in Hanover, and ware excited about adding additional talented individuals from this area,” said Morgan. “G&S Foods will look to create many new jobs after the grand opening, scheduled for spring 2024.”
Not only will overall capacity be increased three-fold, but the state-of-the-art plant will also allow for (salty items) significantly expanded pretzel production, increased capacity for single screw extrusion items and include new twin-screw extrusion machines. For sweet items, the new plant will give G&S increased enrobing capacity, additional bulk tank options and the ability and space to add additional enrobing lines in the future.
The Blettner Avenue plant will also allow G&S to expand its reach to new customers – something that has been difficult in the current facility because of capacity issues – and for the first time to take a more aggressive approach to growing its private label business.
“We have only been in the private label space in a very limited capacity,” noted Morgan. “The snack food aisle used to have only limited opportunities because it was so large-CPG brand dominant.
With consumers now looking for great value and retailers seeking ways to satisfy their customers who have felt the impact of inflation, we believe this is the time to take a deeper dive. The new plant, with its expanded capacity and greater efficiencies, certainly contributed to that decision. We strongly believe in our company mantra of ‘your brand is our brand.’ We think that can also be applied effectively when seeking new private label customers. However, co-manufacturing with other CPG firms will remain the core of our business.”
Both Warehime and Morgan once again noted the importance of G&S’ workforce.
“This is something I learned early on at Snyder’s that you’re not going anywhere without the dedication and support of your people. It is important that we never forget to recognize their value. That is something that will continue as we add many more people as we prepare for our relocation next year,” Warehime proclaimed.
* In the featured photo: On March 8, G&S Foods broke ground a new 348,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Hanover, PA. At the ceremony were these members of the company’s team (l-r) Travis Grim, Tony Hartlaub, Amber Glover, Dan Morgan, Christina Garcia, Dena Sottile, Wade Fitzkee, Thomas Koppelmann, Chuck Sinon.