It’s hard not to think of Gloucester County when snacking on Whitley’s Virginia Peanuts. And now that sales are picking up for the homegrown company, Whitley’s Peanut Factory is investing $530,000 to expand there.
“We didn’t want to leave,” owner and president Todd Smith said. “We’ve had great local support.”
Whitley’s Peanut Factory got its start as a family business 32 years ago in July 1986 at the current Route 17 store near Tidemill Road, Smith said. Folks don’t realize that the gourmet peanuts were cooked and packed at that small site before Whitley’s moved production to a facility on Hayes Road in 1993, he added.
