Wise Foods, Inc. is a company based in Berwick,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mary ...

, that makes snacks and sells them through retail food outlets in 15 eastern seaboard states, as well as

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the n ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to t ...

, and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

Best known for its several varieties of

potato chips A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or ap ...

, Wise also offers

Cheez Doodles Cheez Doodles are a cheese puff produced by Wise Foods. Originally developed and manufactured in 1964 by King Kone Corp. of the Bronx, New York, it became the prevalent cheese puff snack on the East Coast. Description Cheez Doodles are a ch ...

, bagged

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the see ...

tortilla chip A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...

pork rind Pork rind is the culinary term for the skin of a pig. It can be used in many different ways. It can be rendered, fried in fat, baked, or roasted to produce a kind of pork cracklings (US) or scratchings (UK); these are served in small piece ...

s, onion rings, ''Dipsy Doodle'' chips,

nachos Nachos are a Mexican culinary dish consisting of fried tortilla chips or '' totopos'' covered with melted cheese or cheese sauce, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicke ...

, ''Quinlan'' brand

pretzel A pretzel (), from German pronunciation, standard german: Breze(l) ( and French / Alsatian: ''Bretzel'') is a type of baked bread made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical ...

s, and

French onion dip French onion dip or California dip is an American dip typically made with a base of sour cream and flavored with minced onion, and usually served with potato chips as chips and dip. It is also served with snack crackers and crudités. It is n ...

s. Wise formerly made Cheez Waffies, but the product has since been discontinued. In 2012, Wise Foods was acquired by the Mexican company

Arca Continental Arca Continental is a Mexican multinational company that produces, distributes, and markets beverages under The Coca-Cola Company brand, as well as snacks under the Bokados brand in Mexico, Inalecsa in Ecuador, and Wise and Deep River in the United ...

.Arca Continental acquires two snack businesses
/ref>

History

Wise Foods started as "Wise Potato Chip Company", founded in Berwick,

, in 1921 by Earl Wise.The Wise Story
/ref> He owned Wise Delicatessen and began making potato chips as a way to make use of excess potatoes, initially cooking them in his mother's kitchen, and then selling them to customers in brown paper bags. At the time, potato chips were generally kept in glass display cases, or cracker barrels, and scooped into paper bags for customers. The bags developed grease spots and did not keep the chips fresh for very long, eventually leading to the development of waxed paper bags. Wise's chips proved an immediate hit with customers and soon the delicatessen owner became a regional potato chip mogul. He decided on an

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

as a company mascot, a creature reputed to be "wise," the stylized eye of which remains the corporate logo. He had his first delivery truck by 1922 and opened his first production plant in 1925. In 1964 the company passed out of the Wise family, when it was acquired by the Borden Condensed Milk Co. In 1968 Wise Potato Chip company, which then sold popcorn, Cheez Doodles, Bravos Tortilla Chips, and other snack foods changed its name to Wise Foods, Inc. In 1989 Wise acquired Moore's Quality Snack Foods, which also produced salty snacks marketing mostly in Virginia and the Carolinas. In 1994, Borden agreed to sell Wise and Moore's to the

Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company The Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company was a holding company created in 1991 by entrepreneur Michael P. Carlow to manage a pair of struggling but iconic companies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally joining the candymaker D. L. Clark Co., make ...

, and though the purchase was never completed, the fraudulent behavior the prospective buyers used to try to finance the deal precipitated the collapse of the Pittsburgh conglomerate. In October 2000, the company was bought by the private New York investment firm of Palladium Equity Partners L.L.C. for $96 million. Wise made some changes in the 2000s to improve its competitiveness. It closed the Quinlan Pretzel Co. plant in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, Pennsylvania, in 2002 and contracted with another area company to make pretzels under the Quinlan name. In 2004, Palladium began efforts to help Wise cut into Frito-Lay's share in Wise's key markets, including new packaging for all of its products. Much of the money would be spent on the New York City metropolitan area, Wise's largest market. In the summer of 2005 Wise financed a three-year sponsorship deal to become the Official Potato Chip of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

. It upped the ante to become the ''Official Potato Chip and Cheez Doodle'' of the New York Mets by 2015. In 2012, Wise Foods was acquired by the Mexican company

, the second largest

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlan ...

bottler in Latin America and number three in the world. Arca, which owns several Mexican snack companies, is seeking to leverage Wise's reputation and market presence to introduce its Mexican snacks where Wise has a presence. The company moved its headquarters from Parsippany, New Jersey, to Atlanta, Georgia, in 2013. In 2015, Jolie Weber, the company's CFO at the time, was named CEO.

References

* ''Wise Products'' ''Corporate Listing and Descriptions 2009'', Torquil Gilroy

External links

* {{Borden, Inc. Borden (company) Economy of the Eastern United States Snack food manufacturers of Pennsylvania Brand name potato chips and crisps Cuisine of the Mid-Atlantic states Food and drink companies based in Pennsylvania 1921 establishments in Pennsylvania American companies established in 1921 Food and drink companies established in 1921 Columbia County, Pennsylvania