Here’s the full statement the company released today:
“In order to continue to protect the Mikesell brand, keep it alive and moving forward in the marketplace, Mikesell’s Announces Its Intention to Transfer All of Mikesell’s Brand and Intellectual Property to Another Premium Snacks Manufacturer as Soon as Possible. The exact timetable remains uncertain. As a result, Mike-Sell’s Inc. began to scale back its manufacturing, distribution and administrative operations in order to liquidate its assets in an orderly manner. The liquidation of its assets will begin immediately and continue over the coming months.
While terms have not yet been finalized, we understand the desire to keep product available and are working to facilitate the necessary approval dialogue that will allow uninterrupted supply of Mikesell’s products. “The Mikesell family and team would like to thank the community, consumers and partners for their love and support over the past 112-plus years,” shared Mikesell President Luke Mapp. “Our family will always remember the fans’ love, friendship and victories along the way.”
The company’s human resources team is on hand to address employee concerns and questions, and to share any resources that are or may be available. Mikesell’s customers, suppliers and business partners have also been notified. “
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Mikesell’s bills itself as America’s oldest continuously operating family-owned potato chip company, having been in business since 1910.
Like all businesses, the company faces challenges related to near-term inflation. But the latest contest — fueled by the pandemic’s strained global supply chain issues, wars in Europe and more — has become apparent.
“These are very difficult times,” Mapp told the news outlet in an interview in December. “Mikesell’s shares these challenges with every other business.”
Mapp said at the time that his company faced three problems, some of which were long-standing: inflation, retiree pension liabilities and retail product placement trends.
The company’s board named Mapp president in March 2020 on the cusp of the pandemic. COVID-19 has had a huge impact on employment at Mikesell and all other companies.
The retail market is also constantly changing. Once upon a time, food producers could deal directly with grocery store managers. Today, grocery stores are more likely to defer to corporate decisions, often driven by software that decides which products are placed in front of customers and centered. or on the shelf.
Mapp told the Dayton Daily News that “centralized sourcing” based on “big data” now determines which brands are shown and at what prices.
But those software algorithms — or “planograms” — don’t involve local service, discount programs or price advantages for national brands, he said.
“We have the ability to go into … a store here and build a relationship with that store manager,” said Mapp, who began his career as a sales analyst. “That’s how Mikesell built his brand.
“The ability to do that has basically been taken away,” he said.
The company’s history dates back to 1910 when DW Mikesell and his wife ran a dry beef and sausage business from two rooms on South Williams Street in Dayton.
“Then an opportunity arose to purchase some potato chip equipment, and Mikesell’s Potato Chip Company was born,” the company says on its website.
When asked about the company’s future in December, Mapp said: “I just want to keep it in business for another 110 years.”
Mikesell’s has outsourced much of its distribution to independent distributors, but as of early December, the company still had 10 to 15 company vehicles delivering snack foods — chips in every flavor, pretzels — on the remaining eight company routes Puffs and Puff Corn. The company also owns three on-highway long-haul tractor-trailers.
A decade ago, it closed three distribution facilities in Ohio and cut about 40 jobs, the company said at the time.
