GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The founder of Atwater Brewing has purchased a piece of Michigan history.
Mark Rieth has purchased the Velvet Peanut Butter brand, an iconic Michigan name going back decades. He will be bringing operations and production back to Detroit, according to a release.
Velvet Peanut Butter was first started in 1937, when a Detroit truck driver, Paul Zuckerman, bought some used peanut butter equipment on a whim. He first sold it out of his car, eventually growing his operations and sending peanut butter to soldiers overseas during World War II.
As the brand gained popularity, Zuckerman became known as the ‘Peanut Butter King.’
The Peanut Butter King sold the company in 1985 at the age of 74. Production was soon outsourced and shut down in Michigan, before Velvet Peanut Butter stopped hitting shelves completely.
It was restarted in 2008 by Eric Bruce.
“I was not planning to sell the brand until I met Mark,” Bruce said in the release. “It has been a true labor of love to revive Velvet Peanut Butter and shepherd the brand for the past 16 years. Now is the perfect time for me to step away and turn this iconic brand over Mark for him to lead the exciting next chapter.”
Rieth, a Detroit native, remembers enjoying the peanut butter brand when he was a kid.
“It was my ‘go to’ after school snack the whole time I was growing up. When I learned of the opportunity to acquire the company, it just felt like something I had to do,” Rieth said in the release. “There are lots of people like me who remember and loved that distinctive Velvet taste.”
He said he’s confident the company can bring Velvet back to the level of popularity it was in its heyday, with some “aggressive marketing and prominent space on grocers’ shelves.”
“We can do (it) here in Detroit, where it all began for the company,” he said in the release.
According to its website, Velvet is currently available online and in several grocery stores and markets, including Meijer. Meijer’s website shows that it’s in stock on several West Michigan Meijer shelves.
Rieth is the founder of Atwater Brewery, which he sold in 2022. His current ventures include the Lansing Brewing Company, which he acquired earlier this year.
“I find myself wondering if this is what it was like for Paul Zuckerman in 1937. You wake up one day and think ‘Hey, I guess I’m in the peanut butter business now,’” Rieth said in the release.
Plans to move production and distribution of Velvet back to Detroit are still being finalized. It will follow its original recipes.
There may also be a future collaboration with Lansing Brewing Company, like a peanut butter whiskey or a peanut butter porter.