Utz Snacks closes Golden Flake potato chip factory in Birmington, Alabama; Production moved to Pennsylvania

The Golden Flake factory in Birmingham has made its final potato chip, ending a historic run as one of Alabama’s favorite snack foods made in the state. So, who ate, or is about to eat, the last Golden Flake potato chip made in Birmingham?

If you’re a regular buyer of Golden Flake chips, it might be you. Jeff Clemmons, an employee at the Golden Flake factory who will continue working at the distribution center next door at 1 Golden Flake Circle in Birmingham, said he kept a case of chips bagged and boxed from the last day of production on June 9.

Jeff Clemmons:
 

"Everybody (at the plant) knew, it would be the last batch ever made in Birmingham."

But he’s not sure if anyone tried to grab the last chip off the production line for a sentimental last snack. Jeff Clemmons:
 

"I can’t answer that."

Utz still sells products under the Golden Flake brand, but they are no longer made in Birmingham. Clemmons brought out a bag of Golden Flake Sweet Heat chips that was made in Birmingham on June 9.

Jeff Clemmons:
 

"I’ve been eating these, and they are very good. This would be a bag from the very last production run."

He showed that the expiration date printed on the bags of Golden Flake chips that day was Oct. 16. The quality shelf life of a sealed fresh bag of chips is about 14 weeks, from production day to expiration date.

Jeff Clemmons:
 

"This was made in Birmingham."

 If you see a bag of Golden Flake chips on the shelf at a supermarket that has that Oct. 16 expiration date, it was bagged from the last batch of potato chips that will ever be made at the Golden Flake factory in Birmingham, Clemmons said.

Any Golden Flake chips with a later expiration date were made after June 9 and are being produced at the Utz Quality Foods factories in Pennsylvania.

Jeff Clemmons:
 

"The ones from Hanover didn’t start coming in until later."

Clemmons said he didn’t eat the last chip to come off the production line. That would have come off during the night shift on June 9, when the fryer fried up its last batch of chips. Someone out there could be reading this story and eating the last bag of Golden Flake potato chips ever produced in the city.

Julie McLaughlin, director of marketing at Golden Flake in 1987-2014 years:
 

"It’s possible that the last ones have been eaten by somebody, and they didn’t even know it."

Utz Brands announced in April it would be closing the company’s Golden Flake Birmingham manufacturing facility in July, but it happened sooner than expected.

McLaughlin said she stays in contact with many former employees, but didn’t get any advance warning of when the last day of production would be before it happened. She would have liked to have seen a momentous celebration of the day, despite its inherent sadness for Alabamians.

Julie McLaughlin:
 

"I was very disappointed they didn’t have a former employees’ day. There were so many opportunities to get good public relations and get good happy stories, talk to people who worked there and took school field trips. They missed all those opportunities."

"People took pride in the fact that Golden Flake chips had been made in Birmingham for more than a century. “Now they’re making them up in Pennsylvania."

For generations of children, school field trips to the Golden Flake potato chip factory in Birmingham were a rite of passage. Sampling the warm potato chips fresh out of the fryer is an olfactory and taste sensation lost on the current and next generation of school children.

Julie McLaughlin:
 

"It was a big deal. They had waiting lists. You would have to sign up three or four months in advance. It was a good little tour. It took about 30 minutes. Then we caught hot potato chips coming out of the cooker. There’s nothing like a hot potato chip."

The school tours already ended a few years ago, after Utz Quality Foods, based in Hanover, Penn., purchased Golden Enterprises, Golden Flake’s parent company, in 2016 for $141 million. It was one of the most popular field trips in the region.

Julie McLaughlin:
 

"We had people come up from Montgomery, Anniston and Tuscaloosa. It wasn’t just the Birmingham schools."

May 1 of this year marked the 100th anniversary of Golden Flake potato chips. Golden Flake began as Magic City Foods in 1923 in the basement of a Hill’s Grocery store in north Birmingham, with its “Golden Flake” potato chips being made, placed in hand-stapled bags and sold at the grocery, McLaughlin said.

Before she joined Golden Flake, she worked for Frank Taylor Advertising, which ran the Golden Flake account and worked on the Bear Bryant Show.

Julie McLaughlin:
 

"WIt was wonderful. I worked on the show eight years and then Coach Bryant passed away. He was the most charismatic man you ever met."

From 1960 through 1982, Golden Flake sponsored the weekly "Bear Bryant Show" on Birmingham television every Sunday with Coca-Cola as co-sponsor, and the slogan, "Great Pair, says The Bear."

Paul "Bear" Bryant, who became Alabama’s coach in 1958 and died in 1983, did every show with a bowl of Golden Flake potato chips on the set. Julie McLaughlin:
 

"We didn’t know he was going to be such a big deal. We were a regional potato chip. When he started being nationally known and winning national championships, it reflected very well on us."

Bryant endorsed the chips partly because of his friendship with the Bashinsky family. Leo Bashinsky and his brother-in-law Cyrus Case bought the company in 1946. Leo’s son, Sloan Bashinsky Sr., bought Magic City Foods from his father and uncle in 1956 and changed the name to Golden Flake. The sponsorship of the Bear Bryant Show was a cultural turning point.

Julie McLaughlin:
 

"Coach Bryant would talk about five minutes, then we’d go to a one-minute commercial for Golden Flake. Coke would run their national commercials, which would make ours look rinky-dink, but we had the greatest man endorsing us."

In addition to flavored chips such as Sweet Heat, cheese puffs, cheese curls, tortilla chips and snack crackers were made at the historic Golden Flake factory in Birmingham and shipped throughout the Southeast.

The shutdown of the Birmingham factory means about 175 employees will be laid off from the work force of 275. Others will work in distribution. Utz last year announced plans to build a 90,000-square-foot distribution warehouse on Acipco Industrial Drive in Birmingham.

Utz Foods Vice President Kevin Brick:
 

"The Golden Flake brand remains an important part of Utz’s portfolio, and our product offerings and partnerships under this banner are not changing. We will continue to have a presence in Birmingham and will stay an active part of the community."

For those who have a bag of Golden Flake potato chips with the Oct. 16 expiration date, which means the chips were made on the last day of production in Birmingham, a celebration of the history of Golden Flake is in order.

They know what Bear Bryant would recommend. Eat those last Birmingham-made Golden Flake chips with a Coca-Cola. "Great Pair," says The Bear.