W.T. HAWKINS PRESIDENT KENT HAWKINS DISCUSSES
CHEEZIES® NEXT 75 YEARS AT COMPANY'S DIAMOND JUBILEE
CELEBRATION
BELLEVILLE, ON, June 27,
2024 /CNW/ - W.T. Hawkins president, Kent Hawkins, third generation of the family to
run the company that gave Canada Cheezies®, told guests
at the company's Diamond Jubilee
celebrations today in Belleville,
"We've had 75 years of phenomenal success with Canadian consumers
with a great original product: Cheezies®. I intend to
lead this company into its next 75 years of success with
Cheezies®."
Hawkins was speaking at an event to mark the company's Diamond
Anniversary. "It was exactly 75 years ago, to this day, that
my Grandfather Willard Trice Hawkins incorporated W.T. Hawkins Ltd,
opened the Hawkins' Tweed plant and began making
Cheezies®" and we are still using the original
formulation.
"Why would I mess with success? I am not going to do any
messing, but we are moving to modernize what we do and how we do
it. We have already begun."
Hawkins described the process and productivity efficiencies that
have been achieved under his management of the company and those
that are being contemplated.
He noted that incremental changes that cumulatively amount to
great improvements, such as mechanizing the movement of
Cheezies® from the kitchen to the packaging area, had
greatly increased the amount of product ultimately going out the
door.
Hawkins said that, given the physical limitations imposed by the
current physical plant, which was originally built in the 1800s and
is growing old and tired, the company had recently purchased from
the City of Belleville the land on
which the company's 75th Jubilee celebration was being
held.
"We bought the land with the intention of building a new, more
modern, more efficient Cheezies® factory, with greater
capacity, to help us meet the continually growing demand for our
product…for Cheezies®," he said.
"No formal announcement will be made until after all the details
– financing, designing, etc. – are finalized," he added.
Cheezies® also is renovating and updating its online
presence; its new website and social media accounts are being
launched.
"Our company is being dragged into the 21st century, excitedly
but with just a little bit of screaming and kicking," Hawkins said.
"Today, we went live with our new, modernized website (
www.cheezies.com ). Our social media accounts are now
live. Our username is @hawkinscheeziesofficial and you may
wish to check in from time to time."
To begin with, according to Hawkins,"Cheezies® will
be found on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
"Along with being pleased with the productivity and other
improvements we have accomplished and are contemplating, I am very
happy, very proud and absolutely delighted to say that there will
be at least as many workers at our proposed new plant as at the
existing plant." He said. "Automation and mechanization are great
but not as great as having great people working for you."
"One thing that will never change, however, as long as a Hawkins
is running this company, Cheezies® will continue to
offer the same lip-smacking and finger-licking flavour and texture
experience our consumers have enjoyed for the past three-quarters
of a century.
Approximately 400 Cheezies® fans from around the
country gathered in Belleville on
the site of the proposed new Cheezies® plant, to
celebrate W.T. Hawkins' Diamond
Jubilee.
SOURCE W.T. Hawkins Inc.