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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Sims Food Relocates Wickles Pickles Production to Brundidge, Alabama

12/19/2018
Sims Food Inc., the company the produces the popular Wickles Pickles brand, is relocating production from North Carolina to Magnolia Vegetable Processors in Brundidge, Alabama.

“Our goal is to use as much produce as possible from Alabama growers and fill in the gaps elsewhere,” Will Sims, a co-partner in the firm said.

Brothers Will and Trey Sims entered the pickling business in 1998, after sampling the spicy pickles their cousin made for a Halloween party. They purchased the recipe, which had been passed down by her grandmother, and Wickles Pickles was born, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce.

They soon brought longtime friend Andy Anderson on board. The product lineup includes 10 different items, and they are distributed to most major supermarket chains in all 50 states. Last year, Sims Food made several million jars of pickled products.

“We believe in the products, and it’s just grown from there,” Sims said. “We’ve enjoyed doing it, and we’ve kept it going.”

In the early days, the pickling operation was located in Dadeville, where the company has always maintained a sales office. But as demand grew, the partners had to look elsewhere for processors, and that took them to North Carolina.

A key part of the move back to Alabama was the startup of Magnolia Vegetable Processors, which will process and pack Wickles Pickles, officials said. The company is located in Brundidge, which has a long history of food production.

State officials explained, Sims Food also has a stake in MVP, which opened last year in a new 66,000-square-foot building across the street from Southern Classic Food Group. MVP specializes in pickled vegetable products.

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