- Title
- Our State
-
-
- Date
- May 2002
-
-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
-
Our State
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Lance Inc.
KING OF SANDWICH CRACKERS
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Pick .1 pack of crackers: Lance reigns as the
nations largest producer of snack crackers
In 1913 Philip Lance, an enterprising
food broker, suddenly found himself
with 500 pounds of pejnuts and no
buyer. Lance, whose main commodity
was coffee, didn't want the peanuts to go
to waste. So. he turned misfortune into
opportunity by roasting the peanuts on
his own stove, packing them in paper
bags, and peddling them in downtown
Charlotte for a nickel a bag. It was a
humble beginning for a company that, in
2001. realized a revenue of $583 million.
Of course, Lance Inc.’s 2001 revenue
didn’t gist come from peanuts. The com¬
pany now manufactures and markets a
wide variety of snack foods thanks, in
pan. to i lie foresight of Philip I ancc,
who began to expand his product line
almost before those first roasted peanuts
had time to cool.
In 1914, Philip and son-in-law Salem
Van Every began whipping up batches
of peanut brittle, following a recipe they
got from a World War I soldier from
nearby Camp Greene. (Lance’s present-
day version of tins peanut brittle, the
Peanut Bar, is still a popular treat.) The
following year, in 1915. the two men
formally founded 1 ancc Packaging Co.
(In 1939, the name would be changed
to Lance Inc.)
In 1916, Philip Lance’s wife and
daughter made a monumental contribu¬
tion to the company, when, during a
shared moment of brilliance or. perhaps,
intense hunger, they sandwiched a layer
of peanut butter between two crackers.
Thus, the sandwich cracker made its
grand entrance into the snack world.
To the moon
It’s doubtful that the Lance women
could have guessed the impact their culi¬
nary innovation would have on the com¬
pany. Today, Lance is the largest produc¬
er ol sandwich crackers in America.
According to B. Clyde Preslar,
vice president and chief finan¬
cial officer, more than 25 percent of
1 ance Inc.'s total sales comes from the
sandwich cracker line, which includes
such popular favorites as Toastchee,
Cheese on Wheat, and Toasty.
Some snack food aficionados might
describe Lance's sandwich crackers as
"out of this world" — a description
especially befitting Toastchee, which
hitched a rule on the space shuttle
Columbia in 1 996. Toastchee, the
quintessential sandwich cracker, consist¬
ing of two cheese crackers with peanut
butter in between, was introduced to the
public in 1938. It was accompanied on
its shuttle mission by its Lance cousin,
Van-O-Lunch (vanilla creme filling nes¬
tled between two vanilla cookies).
In addition to sandwich crackers.
Preslar mentions another product that
deserves recognition. "One of the items
we do very well with and are very proud
of is the Captain’s W afer." he notes.
Captain's Wafers — those buttery crack¬
ers that actually make a salad worth eat¬
ing — gained their popularity in restau¬
rants, where hungry diners fished
through bread baskets to get them. Soon,
cracker connoisseurs were writing to
Lance requesting that the company make
Captain’s Wafers available in convenient-
sized packaging from their local grocery
stores. In the early 1 980s. Lance obliged.
Captain's Wafers and sandwich crack¬
ers are just the beginning of Lance’s long
list of snack foods, which includes
several kinds of cookies (such as sugar
wafers and Lem-O-Lunch), a variety of
salty snacks (potato chips, pretzels, pork
skins, and popcorn), cakes (honey buns,
cinnamon rolls, and brownies), and
Outpost Brand jerky and beef sticks. Of
course, Lance still sells the product that
started it all — roasted peanuts — as
well as cashews, pistachios, and sun¬
flower seeds.
Freshness sells
l ance sells its goodies in a variety of
outlets, including more than 50,000
vending machines, as well as in conve¬
nience stores, supermarkets, restaurants,
schixils. hospitals, and military and
government facilities throughout the
United States and overseas.
Lance also produces numerous
private-label brands for other compa¬
nies. For example, in 1979, Lance
bought Midwest Biscuit Company of
Burlington, Iowa, a manufacturer of
cookies and crackers; many of its prod¬
ucts arc marketed under the Vista
name. In 1999, Lance acquired two
additional companies: Tamming Foods
of Ontario, Canada, and Cape Cod
Potato Chips of Massachusetts.
The Lance brand itself, however, is
especially popular throughout the
Southeast. The Lance logo, which was
last updated in 1996, is quite familiar —
alternating red and blue letters spell out
the word “Lance" with the word
“Freshness" underneath.
With manufacturing facilities now
located in Iowa. Massachusetts, and in
two cities in Ontario, Lance Inc.'s
Charlotte facility remains the largest.
Approximately 1,300 people arc
employed at the Charlotte location,
which encompasses close to I million
square feet of space and includes the
bakery, potato chip manufacturing plant,
and the company headquarters.
As a responsible corporate citizen,
Lance became involved in the efforts to
help America recover from the terrorist
attacks last year. “We were called on
after the September 1 1 disaster to send
products to New York to feed the rescue
workers," notes Preslar.
“I ancc encourages not only its execu¬
tives. but also iis employees, to be
involved in various organizations (such
as| Boy Scouts and Red Crttss," says
Preslar. “We are very, very loyal to the
United Way. Our employees really step
up each year."
Kathy Grant Westbrook lives in
hmr Oaks.
68 Our Mate M iv.W