Canadian Heritage Gallery
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WT Hawkins Web Site
Biography
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For more than 50 years, W.T. Hawkins Ltd. has produced "Cheezies" — the company' s hallmark product — with only the finest ingredients and no preservatives. Sold across Canada, Cheezies are manufactured with corn meal and aged Canadian cheddar cheese at the Hawkins facility in Belleville, Ontario.

As a family-owned and operated company, W.T. Hawkins Ltd. is dedicated to quality and service. In return it has received the loyalty and support of its customers, ensuring its success as the manufacturer of the original Cheezies product. Although other snack food companies have produced imitation cheese products, the Cheezies trademark is owned and used exclusively by W.T. Hawkins Ltd.

The history of W.T. Hawkins Ltd. begins in 1948 when W.T. Hawkins, with many years previous experience in the confectionary industry in the United States, joined forces with Jim Marker, the developer of the product, who perfected the method of Cheezies production — a process whereby extruders form corn meal in various finger shapes, which are then french fried in vegetable shortening and subsequently conveyed through a cylinder where, with continuous rotations, they are coated with cheddar cheese.

The company wanted to establish a plant in another country, and Canada was the one chosen. Shirley Woodcox, who joined the company on its arrival in Canada, emphasizes, "Although there have been manufacturing improvements, the original tasty formula has not been changed, and, because of the unique extrusion process, every Cheezie is different, like snowflakes — and people."

The company was first located in Tweed, Ontario, strategically located along the rail lines halfway between Toronto and Montreal. From the outset, Cheezies were well-received by the public, and production and distribution grew rapidly.

After a devastating fire destroyed the initial facility in 1956, the company moved to its present location in Belleville. Always resourceful, and in order to get back into production as rapidly as possible — accomplished within 22 days — the company was willing to temporarily share the building with the Canadian Armed Forces. W.T. Hawkins eventually purchased the site.

Throughout the years the company has manufactured and distributed a variety of other snack food products, such as potato chips, midget donuts, popcorn products, and packaged nuts, but no other product has enjoyed the success of Cheezies, the foundation of W.T. Hawkins prosperity.

After W.T. Hawkins passed away in 1961, his son, W.W. (Web) Hawkins, with the company since 1949, assumed control. Web Hawkins guided the company for nearly 30 years before he passed away, in 1990. Today, the management nucleus is comprised of W.W. Hawkins son, Kent Hawkins, as President; Jim Marker, Vice President, who oversees production and quality control; Shirley Woodcox, in charge of purchasing and employee relations; and H. Lee Hawkins, the wife of W.W. Hawkins, as Chairman of the Board. As a family oriented business, there is strong sense of loyalty, with many of the employees having long records of service, and with several cases of two and even three generations of the same family on staff.

Delicious, crisp, nutritious (they are even available in certain hospitals and nursing homes) and always fresh, Cheezies have become a Canadian snack-food institution and the basis for the ongoing success of W.T. Hawkins Ltd.