Wickles Pickles

Short for “wickedly delicious pickles,” the Wickles brand of pickled products originated in Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, and is nationally known for its signature “sweet heat” pickles. Founded in 1998 by brothers Trey and Will Sims and their friend Andy Anderson, the company began as a small enterprise based on a decades-old family recipe. Today, Wickles offers more than a dozen products nationwide, with sales in the millions of jars each year.

Wickles began as a homemade item and blossomed into a nationally recognized brand. The Wickles’ website explains that their original pickle recipe had a 70-year generational history within the family before becoming a commercial product. Dadeville natives Trey and Will Sims encountered the pickles at the home of cousins Will and Dana Ferniany. (Will Ferniany is a former chief executive officer of UAB Health System.) The brothers recalled enjoying them at a family gathering, and Dana Ferniany, who had been making them for family and friends as gifts, found them to be so popular that she had trouble keeping up with requests. Although Trey and Will Sims were not in the food business (Trey was a stockbroker in Atlanta and Will was a photographer), they took on the task of making Wickles for the wider public under the business name Sims Foods. After connecting with their cousin in Philadelphia and learning the recipe, the operation started small in a rented space in Dadeville. Anderson joined soon after the endeavor began, and the three initially made 27 cases of Wickles a day.

Within a decade, the Wickles brand had grown and garnered significant attention. By 2000, Wickles were being sold in the Birmingham-based Bruno’s grocery store chain. That relationship came about when Sims Foods donated their products for the gift baskets at a Bruno’s company fundraiser. Placements in Piggly Wiggly and other stores followed. To keep pace with growing demand, the company moved production from Dadeville to North Carolina in 2005 but kept the company’s headquarters in Dadeville. Roughly a decade after their start, Wickles were being sold in 9,000 grocery stores in all 50 states. Southern Living magazine and cooking show hosts Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray have included Wickles in features and recipes.

Through the 2010s, Wickles continued to grow and garner even more attention in Alabama and beyond. A 2011 tornado caused the company’s Dadeville headquarters to relocate temporarily to nearby Opelika, Lee County, production continued. Facing some tough competition, Wickles came in first in AL.com's 2015 Alabama Food Bracket (a college basketball-style bracket of Alabama foods). Then, in 2018, Wickles returned production to Alabama from North Carolina after Sims foods became the partial owner of Magnolia Vegetable Processors, a company in Brundidge, Pike County. Magnolia built a 66,000-square-foot factory to produce Wickles products. By that time, Wickles was producing 10 different varieties of pickles. Shortly after Wickles passed its 25th anniversary in November 2023, the Birmingham-based Fenwick Food Group acquired Wickles, and the headquarters moved to Birmingham. 

Today, Wickles’ products come in a variety of flavors, shapes, and sizes in addition to its signature Wickles Original Pickles. In the Wicked flavor, the company offers Slices, Banana Pepper Rings, Jalapeno Slices, Wicked Garlic, Wicked Okra, and Relish. Wickles’ Hula flavor combines the flavors of pickles, jalapenos, and pineapple, and features pickles (sliced) and relish. Their newer Dirty Dill flavor features Baby Dills, Chips, Slices, Cocktail Cornichons, Spears, Okra, and Spicy Red Sandwich Spread. In 2025, the company introduced the new, milder Chill’n Dill brine.

Wickles can also be found on the menus of popular restaurants, including Baumhower’s Victory Grill and Tuscaloosa’s Cypress Inn and locally known restaurants Kowaliga on Lake Martin and founder Andy Anderson’s Waverly Local. Other collaborations have included Chicken Salad Chick’s “Rockin’ Rita” chicken salad, which contained Spicy Red Sandwich spread, and the Wickles Pickles Bacon Burger at Jack’s Family Restaurants.

Notable recognitions have come from Rachael Ray, who called them her “favorite pickle,” and, in 2020, the Trump administration included Wickles as its Alabama-made product in the Fourth Annual Made in America Product Showcase.