The Hershey Company

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This article is about the chocolate manufacturer. For the ice cream company also known as
Hershey's, see Hershey Creamery Company. For other uses, see Hershey's.

Coordinates:  40.2960329°N 76.6329445°W

The Hershey Company

The original Hershey's chocolate factory, 1976

Trade name Hershey's

Hershey Chocolate Co. (1894–1927)

Formerly
Hershey Chocolate Corporation (1927–
68)
Hershey Foods Corporation (1968–2005)

Type Public

Traded as NYSE: HSY
S&P 500 Component

ISIN US4278661081
Industry Food processing

Predecessor Lancaster Caramel Company

Founded January 29, 2001; 19 years ago (as Hershey

Chocolate Company)
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States[1]

Founder Milton S. Hershey

Headquarters Hershey, Pennsylvania

, 

United States

Number of 17 plants[2] (2020)
locations

Area served Worldwide

Key people Michele Buck (Chairman, President and

CEO) [3]

Steven Voskuil (Senior VP, Chief Financial

& Accounting Officer)[4]

Products List of products manufactured by The Hershey

Company

Brands Hershey bar

Hershey's Kisses
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Brookside Chocolates
Ice Breakers candy
Breath Savers
Jolly Rancher
Twizzlers
York Peppermint Pattie
Almond Joy
Bubble Yum

Revenue  US$8.0 billion[5] (2019)

 Operating  US$1.275 billion[5] (2019)
income

Net income  US$1.5 billion[5] (2019)

Total assets  US$8.140 billion[5] (2019)

Total equity  US$1.72 billion[5] (2019)

Owner Hershey Trust Company (minority owner but owns

the majority of the voting stock)

Number of 16,140 (Full-time) (2019)

employees

Website thehersheycompany.com

The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an

American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the
world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies, cakes, milkshakes, drinks,
and many more that are produced globally.[6] Its headquarters are in Hershey,
Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. It
was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, a
subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. The Hershey Trust Company owns a
minority stake but retains a majority of the voting power within the company. [7]
Hershey's chocolate is available across the United States, and in over 60 countries
worldwide.[8][9][10][failed verification] They have three large distribution centers, with modern
technology[failed verification] and labor management systems.[11] In addition, Hershey is a member
of the World Cocoa Foundation. It is also associated with the Hersheypark Stadium and
the Giant Center.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Early years
o 1.2Hershey, Pennsylvania
o 1.3Hershey's Kisses
o 1.4Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
o 1.5Unionization
o 1.6M&M's
o 1.7Kit Kat and Rolo
o 1.8Cadbury's
o 1.9Other 20th-century sales and acquisitions
 o 1.1021st century
 2Milton Hershey School (MHS)
 3Manufacturing plants
 4Product recalls
 5Philanthropy
 6Criticism
o 6.1Cocoa purchase
 7See also
 8References
 9Additional sources

History[edit]

The Hershey's Chocolate World store in Times Square, New York City (2008)

Hershey's Syrup, circa 1950s
Hershey Store located in the Falls Avenue Entertainment Complex in Niagara Falls, Canada

Early years[edit]
After an apprenticeship to a confectioner in 1873, Milton S. Hershey founded a candy
shop in Philadelphia. This candy shop was only open for six years, after which Hershey
apprenticed with another confectioner in Denver, where he learned to make caramel.
[12]
 After another failed business attempt in New York, Hershey returned to Pennsylvania,
where he founded the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1886. The use of fresh milk in
caramels proved successful,[13] and in 1900, after seeing chocolate-making machines for
the first time at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Hershey sold his
caramel company for $1,000,000[13] (equal to $30,732,000 today), and began to
concentrate on chocolate manufacturing, stating to people who questioned him,
"Caramels are just a fad, but chocolate is a permanent thing."
In 1896, Hershey built a milk-processing plant so he could create and refine a recipe for
his milk chocolate candies. In 1899, he developed the Hershey process, which is less
sensitive to milk quality than traditional methods. In 1900, he began
manufacturing Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars, also known as Hershey's Bars or
Hershey Bars.
Hershey's Cocoa ad from 1918

Hershey, Pennsylvania[edit]
In 1903, Hershey began construction of a chocolate plant in his hometown of Derry
Church, Pennsylvania, which later came to be known as Hershey, Pennsylvania.[13] The
town was an inexpensive place for the workers and their families to live; however, the
factory itself was built without windows so that employees would not be distracted. To
increase employee morale, Hershey provided leisure activities and created what would
later become Hersheypark to make sure the citizens enjoyed themselves. The milk
chocolate bars manufactured at this plant proved popular, and the company grew
rapidly.
Hershey's Kisses[edit]
In 1907, he introduced a new candy - bite-sized, flat-bottomed, conical-shaped pieces of
chocolate that he named "Hershey's Kiss". At first, they were individually wrapped by
hand in squares of aluminum foil. The introduction of machine wrapping in 1921
simplified the process while adding the small paper ribbon to the top of the package to
indicate that it was a genuine Hershey product.[13] Today, 70 million of the candies are
produced daily.[14] Other products introduced included Mr. Goodbar (1925), containing
peanuts in milk chocolate, Hershey's Syrup (1926), semisweet chocolate chips (1928),
and the Krackel bar containing crisped rice (1938).
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups[edit]
Harry Burnett Reese invented Reese's Peanut Butter Cups after founding the H.B.
Reese Candy Company in 1923.[15] Reese died on May 16, 1956 in West Palm Beach,
Florida leaving the company to his six sons.[16] On July 2, 1963 the H.B. Reese Candy
Company merged with the Hershey Chocolate Corporation in a tax-free stock-for-stock
merger. In 2020 after 57-years of stock splits,[17] the original 666,316 shares of Hershey
common stock received by the Reese family represented 16 million Hershey shares
valued at $2.5 billion that pay annual cash dividends of $51.4 million. [18][19] In 1969, only 6-
years after the Reese/Hershey merger, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups became The
Hershey Company's top seller.[20] As of September 20, 2012, Reese's is the best-selling
candy brand in the United States with sales of $2.603 billion, and is the fourth-best-
selling candy brand globally with sales of $2.679 billion—only $76 million (2.8%) of its
sales are from outside the United States market.[21]
Unionization[edit]
Labor unrest came to Hershey in the late 1930s as a Congress of Industrial
Organizations-backed union attempted to organize the factory workers. A failed sit-
down strike in 1937 ended in violence, as loyalist workers and local dairy farmers beat
many of the strikers as they attempted to leave the plant. By 1940, an affiliate of
the American Federation of Labor had successfully organized Hershey's workers under
the leadership of John Shearer, who became the first president of Local Chapter
Number 464 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers'
International Union. Local 464 still represents the Hershey workforce.
M&M's[edit]
Shortly before World War II, Bruce Murrie, son of long-time Hershey's president William
F.R. Murrie, struck a deal with Forrest Mars to create hard sugar-coated chocolate that
would be called M&M's (for Mars and Murrie). Murrie had a 20% interest in the
confection, which used Hershey chocolate during the rationing era during World War II.
In 1948, Mars bought out Murrie's interest and became one of Hershey's main
competitors.[22]
Kit Kat and Rolo[edit]
In 1969, Hershey received a license from Rowntree's to manufacture and market Kit
Kat and Rolo in the United States. After Hershey's competitor Nestlé acquired
Rowntree's in 1988, it was still required to honor the licensing agreement, and thus
Hershey continues to make and market the brands in the U.S. The license would be
revoked and revert to Nestlé if Hershey were sold.[23] It thus became a sticking point in
Hershey's failed attempt to attract a serious buyer in 2002, knowing that Kit-Kat and
Rolo would then have to be forfeited to Nestlé. Even Nestlé rejected Hershey's asking
price feeling that the economics of such a deal did not work. [24]
Cadbury's[edit]
In 1988, Hershey's acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute many Cadbury-
branded products in the United States (except gum and mints, which are part
of Mondelēz International). In 2015, they sued a British importer to halt imports of British
Cadbury chocolate, angering consumers. [25][26] A merger between Mondelēz and
Hershey's was considered but abandoned in 2016 after Hershey's turned down a $23
billion cash-and-stock bid.[27]
Other 20th-century sales and acquisitions[edit]
In 1977, Hershey acquired Y&S Candies, founded in 1845, and became the makers
of Twizzlers licorice candies.
In 1986, Hershey's began a brief foray into cough drops when it acquired
the Luden's cough drops brand. By 2001, though, the brand had been sold to
Pharmacia (now part of Pfizer),[28] and Luden's eventually became a product of Prestige
Brands.[29] Hershey's kept Luden's 5th Avenue bar.
In 1996, Hershey purchased the American operations of the Leaf Candy
Company from Huhtamäki.
In 1999, the Hershey Pasta Group was divested to several equity partners to form
the New World Pasta company (now part of Ebro Foods).
21st century[edit]
On July 25, 2002, it became public knowledge that the Hershey Trust Company was
seeking to sell its controlling interest in the Hershey Foods Corporation. The value of
Hershey stock skyrocketed 25% with over 19 million shares trading that day. Over the
following 55 days, widespread press coverage, as well as pressure from Pennsylvania
Attorney General Mike Fisher, the community of Hershey, and Dauphin County
Orphans' Court Senior Judge Warren G. Morgan, led to the sale being abandoned. The
seven Hershey trustees who voted to sell Hershey Foods on September 17, 2002, for
US$12.5 billion to the William Wrigley Jr. Company (now part of Mars Incorporated)
were removed by Attorney General Fisher and Judge Morgan. [30] Ten of the 17 trustees
were forced to resign and four new members who lived locally were appointed. The
former Pennsylvania Attorney General, LeRoy S. Zimmerman, became the new
chairman of the reconstituted Milton Hershey School Trustees. Mr. Zimmerman has
publicly committed to having the Milton Hershey School Trust always retain its interest
in The Hershey Company.
In December 2004, Hershey acquired the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp. from The
Shansby Group.[31]
In 2005, Krave Jerky was founded by Jon Sebastiani after he trained for a marathon
and looked for a healthy source of energy.[32] Alliance Consumer Growth, a private
equity group, invested in Krave Jerky in 2012.[33] Hershey's purchased the company in
2015 for $240 million.[34] Hershey would later in 2020 sell Krave Jerky to Sonoma
Brands, the food industry incubator founded by Jon Sebastiani in 2016. [35]
In July 2005, Hershey acquired the Berkeley, California-based boutique chocolate-
maker Scharffen Berger.[36] In November 2005, Hershey acquired Joseph Schmidt
Confections, the San Francisco-based chocolatier, and in November 2006, Hershey
acquired Dagoba Organic Chocolate, a boutique chocolate maker based in Ashland,
Oregon.
In June 2006, Philadelphia city councilman Juan Ramos called for Hershey's to stop
marketing "Ice Breakers Pacs", a kind of mint, due to the resemblance of its packaging
to a kind that was used for illegal street drugs.[37]
In September 2006, ABC News reported that several Hershey chocolate products were
reformulated to replace cocoa butter with vegetable oil as an emulsifier. According to
the company, this change was made to reduce the costs of producing the products
instead of raising their prices or decreasing the sizes. Some consumers complained that
the taste was different, but the company stated that in the company-sponsored blind
taste tests, about half of consumers preferred the new versions. As the new versions no
longer met the Food and Drug Administration's official definition of "milk chocolate", the
changed items were relabeled from stating they were "milk chocolate" and "made with
chocolate" to "chocolate candy" and "chocolatey." [38]
In December 2011, Hershey reached an agreement to acquire Brookside Foods Ltd., a
privately held confectionery company based in Abbotsford, British Columbia. [39]
In January 2015, Hershey announced that they had acquired Krave Jerky, marking the
company's first foray outside of the confectionery market in more than a decade. [40]
In April 2015, the Hershey chocolate plant on East Chocolate Avenue in Hershey
Pennsylvania was demolished to make way for mixed-use development. [41]
In 2016, Hershey acquired barkTHINS, a New York-based chocolate snack foods
company that expected to generate between $65 million and $75 million in revenue for
that year, for $290 million.[42][34]
An August 2016 attempt to sell Hershey to Mondelez International was scuttled because
of objections by the Hershey Trust.[23]
In 2017, Hershey acquired Amplify Snack Brands, Austin, Texas-based maker
of SkinnyPop, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.6 billion. [43]
In September 2018, Hershey announced to buy Pirate Brands from B&G Foods for
$420 million in an all-cash deal.[44][45][46]
In August 2019, Hershey announced it would purchase protein bar maker One Brands
LLC for $397 million.[47]
In October 2019, Hershey's announced a collaboration with Yuengling to produce a
limited release collaboration beer titled Yuengling Hershey's Chocolate Porter,
becoming Hershey's first licensed beer partnership. [48]

Milton Hershey School (MHS)[edit]

Main article: Milton Hershey School

Unable to have children of his own, Milton S. Hershey founded the Hershey Industrial
School in 1909 for white orphaned boys.[49] In 1918, three years after the death of his
wife, Milton Hershey donated around $90 million to the boarding school in trust, as well
as 40% of the Hershey Company's common stock. [50] The school's initial purpose was to
train young men in trades but eventually shifted to focus on preparation for college.
[50]
 The Hershey Trust Company has exercised voting rights for the school and has been
a trustee since its founding.[51]
Many of its designs resemble Hershey chocolate products, such as the Hershey Kisses
street lights.[52] Milton Hershey was involved in the school's operations until his death in
1945. The Hershey Industrial School was renamed the Milton Hershey School in 1951. [53]

Manufacturing plants[edit]
The first plant outside Hershey opened on June 15, 1963, in Smiths Falls, Ontario,
Canada, and the third opened on May 22, 1965, in Oakdale, California.[54] In February
and April 2007, Hershey's announced that the Smiths Falls [55][56] and Oakdale[57][58] plants
would close in 2008, being replaced in part by a new facility in Monterrey, Mexico. The
Oakdale factory closed on February 1, 2008. [59] Hershey chocolate factory in São Roque,
Brazil, was opened in August 2002. Hershey's Asia operations are largely supplied by
their plant in Mandideep, India.[2]
Hershey also has plants in Stuarts Draft, Virginia; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Hazleton,
Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennessee; Robinson, Illinois, and Guadalajara, Mexico.
Visitors to Hershey can experience Hershey's Chocolate World visitors center and its
simulated tour ride. Public tours were once operated in the Pennsylvania and California
factories, which ended in Pennsylvania in 1973 as soon as Hershey's Chocolate World
opened,[60] and later in California following the September 11, 2001, attacks, due to
security concerns.[58]
On September 18, 2012, Hershey opened a new and expanded West Hershey plant.
The plant was completed at a budget of $300 million. [61]
On March 9, 2018, Hershey broke ground to expand its Kit Kat manufacturing facility
in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania. The expansion project has a $60 million budget and
is expected to create an additional 111 jobs at the facility. [62]

Product recalls[edit]
 In July 1998, a number of 100 g (3.5 oz) milk chocolate bars being sold for fundraising
events were recalled because they may have contained traces of almonds not listed in the
ingredients.[63]
 In November 2006, the Smiths Falls production plant in Ontario temporarily shut down
and several products were voluntarily recalled after concerns
over Salmonella contamination possibly found in soy lecithin within their production line. It
was believed that most of the products involved in the recall never made it to the retail level.
[64][65]

Philanthropy[edit]
Hershey has made large contributions to education. One of their most notable
contributions was the Elizabethtown College Honors Program.[66] The program was
established in 1999 and is funded partially through the endowment.
In 2015, Hershey announced a commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative to help build
a sustainable supply chain to support basic nutrition for children in Ghana. [67]
Hershey's long-term focus on children and families has yielded long-standing
partnerships with organizations such as Children's Miracle Network, Ronald McDonald
House, and United Way (UW). In 2016, the company donated more than $486,200 to
those organizations.[68]

Criticism[edit]
This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies.
Please help to create a more balanced presentation. Discuss and resolve this issue
before removing this message. (November 2017)