Tom's Snacks
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| Corporation | |
| Industry | Snack food |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Founder | Tom Huston |
| Headquarters | Charlotte, North Carolina, USA |
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Key people
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David Singer CEO |
| Website | Tom's Snacks |
Tom's Snacks Co., a subsidiary of Snyder's-Lance, Inc., is an American snack food company founded in Columbus, Georgia.
In 1925, Tom Huston founded "Tom's Roasted Peanuts", and began selling his peanuts for a nickel a bag. Within two years, Tom's peanuts were being sold around the country generating US$4 million in sales. However, due to unpaid notes Huston lost the company to the bank. In 1932, Walter Richards bought Tom's from the bank and took the company public. By the 1950s sales reached US$16 million.
In 1966, General Mills acquired Tom's for US $75 million, and changed the name to "Tom's Foods". In the 1970s, General Mills attempted to launch Tom's chips into national supermarkets and branched off a new vending office snack service. By 1983, Tom's had changed ownership again. Rowntree Mackintosh paid US$215 million to acquire the company in a mutual agreement. During their ownership, they launched a franchise program for their distributors. Due to the lack of sales, the company was once again sold. TF Acquisition Corporation took over the company in 1988 paying US$200 Million in a management buyout. Under this new ownership, they opened new chip plants in Columbus, Georgia and Tennessee expanding their network of independent distributors. Tom's had goals of increasing sales to up over US$400 million over the next five years. Their goals fell short, and in 1993 Heico Acquisitions took the company over. Over the next couple years, sales suffered falling to US$200 million. As a result, Tom's Foods had declared bankruptcy.
In 2005, Lance Inc. won the bid to acquire Tom's Foods for $37,9 million plus certain liabilities and renamed it Tom's Snacks Co. As of 2016[update], Tom's products are distributed across the country by Snyder's-Lance.
Tom's Snacks is the first mainstream snack company to feature wrestlers on the packaging of their potato chip bags, including TNA stars Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Anderson, Velvet Sky, "The Pope" D'angelo Dinero & AJ Styles.
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