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American Farmer Popcorn Sees Continuing Upward Trend
Ohio Ag Connection - 12/05/2016

American Farmer Popcorn announced that it has created a distribution alliance with Bickel's Snack Foods--the Hanover Foods subsidiary that also owns York Snacks, Bon Ton Potato Chips, WEGE Pretzel Co. of Hanover, Pa., and Troyer Farms (including Dan Dee Pretzel & Potato Chip Co., and Seyfert Foods, an Indiana-based snack food producer). As a result of the alliance, Bickel's will distribute American Farmer Popcorn to over 5,000 grocery, drug chains and big box retailers across the states of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. This alliance represents an opportunity for American Farmer, introducing the brand to new territories, and galvanizing its popularity in states like New York, where American Farmer is already well-known.

Meanwhile, American Farmer Popcorn has grown nationally over the three short years since its inception, becoming a major player in the snack category. As a result, it has attracted some of the largest distributors like Snyders, Bickel's, and others, and has also been selected by one of the South's largest retailers, Harris Teeter, which will be hitting the shelves in December 2016 -- a reflection of American Farmer's unique value offering. Overall, the brand has been seeing tremendous growth in all channels, and expects to see double-digit growth in 2017.

The growth that American Farmer has been seeing is no coincidence: Consumers are increasingly moving away from salty and sugary snacks and opting for healthier products such as baked snacks and trail mixes--which is precisely the type of product that American Farmer makes.

An ultra-premium popcorn, American Farmer Popcorn uses only the highest-quality corn harvested from America's heartland. They pop the corn in small batches to create a unique combination of sweet and savory flavors that harkens back to a simpler time. The brand offers a wide array of flavors, including Sweet & Salty, and Slim & Light Kettle Corn; Old School Movie Theater, Slim Sea Salt, Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper, Whitehouse Cheddar, Crunchy Caramel & Salted Caramel Popcorn; as well as classic holiday tins, and gourmet butterfly popcorn kernels--for gourmands who'd rather pop their popcorn themselves.

Bickel's Potato Chip Company was started in 1954 by Luther Bickel in Lancaster County, Pa. It was a regional family run business offering a unique "seared" potato chip in an array of interesting flavors. Then, in 1998, Bickel's was purchased by Hanover Foods Corporation--the US's largest privately-owned manufacturer of frozen, canned, fresh, and freeze-dried food products.

Meyer Futersak, founder and CEO of American Farmer Popcorn, said, "We have long been admirers of Bickel's products and culture, and are thrilled to have been selected as part of their distribution assortment. I believe this will open a myriad of new opportunities for American Farmer, while we provide Bickel's with a delicious, healthy new snack alternative to their millions of lifelong customers."

Brynt Little, Bickel's director of sales, is similarly enthusiastic about the deal, proclaiming, "We are incredibly excited to select American Farmer Popcorn for distribution across all our channels. They have a dynamic brand that is both bold, and promises to diversity our product mix."


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