Hill & Valley

What Hill & Valley does

Hill & Valley is a U.S. bakery brand founded in 1986 by George Coin, headquartered in Rock Island, with 101-250 employees. The firm positions itself as the largest provider of Sugar Free and No Sugar Added bakery items, and it operates as a sub-brand within J&J Snack Foods Corp.'s (NASDAQ: JJSF) 25+ brand portfolio alongside Super Pretzel, ICEE, Dippin' Dots, and Hola Churros. Its product surface spans pretzels and baked goods distributed across foodservice, retail grocery, and entertainment-venue channels.

The brand is privately held as part of a publicly traded parent rather than as a standalone listed entity. Hill & Valley generates revenue primarily through product sales conducted via J&J Snack Foods' distribution infrastructure: food service operators (restaurants, amusement parks, stadiums, movie theaters) buy branded snack products with equipment support; retail grocery and convenience-store channels provide consumer pull-through; and direct venue sales leverage franchise and licensing arrangements. Pricing is set through distributor agreements and retail partnerships rather than public pricing, and no separate funding, M&A, or institutional investor structure is disclosed for Hill & Valley as an entity.

The underlying technology is conventional food manufacturing — pretzel-making expertise, frozen treat production, and baked goods — with no proprietary software platform. Indirect strategic reach comes through the parent company's licensing relationships, including OREO (Mondelēz International) for churro products and MINUTE MAID (The Coca-Cola Company) for applicable product lines, and through J&J Snack Foods' investor relations and brand-marketing channels. There is no disclosed standalone management team, AI/ML capability, or technology IP attributed to the brand itself; its competitive position is anchored by inherited distribution and brand-portfolio participation rather than independent R&D.

Name

Hill & Valley

Legal name

Hill & Valley (Brand of J&J Snack Foods Corp.)

Website

https://hillandvalley.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Hill & Valley, founded in 1986, is a U.S. bakery brand and the largest provider of Sugar Free and No Sugar Added baked goods. Operating under J&J Snack Foods Corp., it serves retail grocery and food service channels via its parent's distribution network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Bakery Products

NAICS

Snack Food Manufacturing (31191), Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing (3118)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050), Cookies & Crackers (2052)

akta.pro primary industry

Pretzels & Salted Snacks (CRADABAI)

Keywords

• Sugar free bakery
• No sugar added snacks
• Bakery products
• Foodservice snacks
• Pretzel products

Headquarters

HQ city

Rock Island

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Product Sales: Hill & Valley generates revenue through the sale of baked goods and snack products to food service operators, retail customers, and directly to consumers at entertainment venues.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Hill & Valley is a brand of J&J Snack Foods Corp. that manufactures and distributes sugar-free and no-sugar-added baked goods, including pretzels and related bakery items. The brand supplies these products primarily to food service operators and retail grocery customers across the United States, focusing on reduced-sugar formulations for health-conscious consumers.

Product overview

Hill & Valley is a sub-brand of J&J Snack Foods specializing in pretzel and bakery products. It operates as part of J&J Snack Foods' portfolio of branded snack products, which includes frozen novelties, frozen beverages, and bakery items distributed across foodservice, retail, and bakery segments. Hill & Valley's products are distributed alongside other J&J Snack Foods brands such as Super Pretzel, Dippin' Dots, ICEE, and various churro and frozen treat brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hill & Valley Sugar Free and No Sugar Added Bakery Items A line of sugar-free and no-sugar-added baked goods, including pretzels and other bakery items, produced for food service operators and retail grocery customers serving health-conscious consumers.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Mondelēz International groupminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerJ&J Snack Foods holds a license to use the OREO trademark from Mondelēz International for producing and selling OREO Churros products.
• The Coca-Cola CompanyminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerJ&J Snack Foods holds a license to use the MINUTE MAID trademark from The Coca-Cola Company for applicable product lines.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Flowers Foods: Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) is a major U.S. packaged bakery company producing breads, rolls, and snack cakes under brands like Nature's Own and Dave's Killer Bread. It is comparable to Hill & Valley in bakery manufacturing and broad-line retail distribution, with a much larger product portfolio.
• Utz Brands: Utz Brands is a publicly traded salty snack manufacturer (NYSE: UTZ) with broad pretzel, chip, and snack portfolios distributed nationally through grocery, mass, and convenience channels. It is comparable as a larger incumbent competing in the pretzel/snack category where Hill & Valley also plays.
• Bimbo Bakeries USA: Bimbo Bakeries USA is the U.S. arm of Grupo Bimbo, one of the world's largest bakery manufacturers with brands like Thomas', Sara Lee, and Entenmann's. It is comparable to Hill & Valley in bakery product category and national retail/foodservice distribution, operating at substantially greater scale.
• J&J Snack Foods: J&J Snack Foods Corp. (NASDAQ: JJSF) is Hill & Valley's publicly traded parent company and the broader operating entity under which Hill & Valley is positioned. It is comparable as the broader snack and bakery portfolio providing the distribution, manufacturing, and licensing infrastructure that Hill & Valley operates within.
• Snyder's-Lance: Snyder's of Hanover (Snyder's-Lance) is a major pretzel and salty snack manufacturer with national grocery distribution. It is comparable to Hill & Valley in pretzel category and retail-shelf competition, but operates at significantly greater scale across broader snack formats.

Emerging players

• Herr's Snacks: Herr's is a regional Pennsylvania-based snack manufacturer with pretzel, chip, and cheese-puff product lines. It is comparable to Hill & Valley in pretzel/salty-snack manufacturing and regional retail distribution, but with a narrower geographic footprint.
• Dr. Schar: Dr. Schar is a specialty gluten-free and reduced-sugar bakery brand serving dietary-restricted consumers. It is comparable to Hill & Valley in addressing health/dietary-specific bakery niches (sugar-free, gluten-free) and could represent overlapping demand from consumers seeking restricted-diet baked goods.

Direct peers

• Auntie Anne's: Auntie Anne's is a leading pretzel franchise and consumer brand, comparable to Hill & Valley in pretzel product category, foodservice distribution, and presence in entertainment/retail venues. Both compete for pretzel occasion share in malls, amusement parks, and grocery retail.
• Pretzelmaker: Pretzelmaker is a mall-based pretzel franchise chain, comparable to Hill & Valley in soft pretzel product focus and entertainment/retail-venue distribution. Both target on-the-go snacking occasions in high-traffic consumer locations.
• Super Pretzel: Super Pretzel is a sister brand under J&J Snack Foods and the parent's flagship soft pretzel brand sold in foodservice and retail. It is the most directly comparable peer because it operates in the same product category (soft pretzels) under the same parent distribution network as Hill & Valley.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/hillandvalley

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hill & Valley