By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

GRAMERCY – The manufacturer of Zapp’s Potato Chips has agreed to combine with a Pennsylvania snack food company in an effort to spread the Louisiana brand to a wider audience.

Rod Olsen, general manager of Zappe Endeavors LLC, said Thursday that the deal being forged with Utz Quality Foods Inc. will help both family-owned companies with increased sales, wider distribution and additional employment opportunities. A letter of intent to combine was signed by both companies this week.

Olsen said he had no specifics on the deal since it is not slated to close until the end of the first quarter of 2011. He did say that the company, based in Hanover, Pa.., is the largest independently held snack food company in the country.

“It’s good news all around,” Olsen said. “You can be assured that Zapp’s is sticking around and will have a presence in Gramercy.”

Olsen would not say whether the deal was a “merger of equals.” Pre-merger, Zapp’s employed 100 in Louisiana, 50 in California at the company’s potato farms and plans for another 30-50 in Pennsylvania. Utz, meanwhile, employs more than 2,400 in four facilities in Pennsylvania.

According to the company’s website, Utz was founded in 1921 by husband and wife team Bill and Sallie Utz. The company manufactures a wide variety of potato chips, pretzels and other snack foods, which are distributed throughout 14 states along the east coast.

Zappe Endeavors was founded in Gramercy in 1985 by Ron Zappe, who went into the snack food business after his four petroleum service companies went bankrupt during an oil price crash. The kettle chip maker became famous with such flavors as Cajun Crawtator, Mesquite BBQ, Cajun Dill, Hotter n Hot Jalapeno, and Creole Tomato spiked with Tabasco.

Representatives for Utz could not be reached for comment, but Olsen said the merger will allow Utz to expose their products to a new audience and vice versa.

“We are considered a premium brand of kettle chip,” Olsen said of Zapp’s. “It is a niche that Utz did not previously have, and we are filling it.”

News of the merger comes just six months after Ron Zappe passed away following a battle with throat cancer. Olsen said Zappe Endeavors had been finding ways to grow beyond the Gramercy region.

The company had acquired the Dirty Potato Chip line in the mid-1990s, as well as factories in California and Pennsylvania.

“Ron’s ultimate goal was always to grow beyond the Gramercy region where the company began,” Olsen said. “This is just another way to bring his chips to a new audience.

St. James Parish President Dale Hymel said Thursday that he was aware of the proposed deal and happy that the company will be keeping a presence in St. James Parish.

“We are hearing that they will be expanding their presence here with additional plants in the area,” Hymel said. “This means the potential for more jobs for the region in the foreseeable future. It is a good situation for Zapp’s to ensure their continued growth.”