The Hershey Company , known until April 2004 as the
Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called
Hershey's, is the largest
chocolateChocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC...
manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in
Hershey, Pennsylvania'Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated...
, a town permeated by the aroma of cocoa on some days, and home to
Hershey's Chocolate WorldHershey’s Chocolate World is the name of Hershey’s visitor center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Open year-round, Hershey's Chocolate World offers marketplace shops and restaurants, specializing in Hershey's chocolate products...
. It was founded by
Milton S. HersheyMilton Snavely Hershey was a confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the “company town” of Hershey, Pennsylvania.-Early life:...
in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, a subsidiary of his
Lancaster Caramel CompanyThe Lancaster Caramel Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1886. It was Hershey's first successful candy company and helped him build a reputation. The Hershey Chocolate Company became a subsidiary of the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1894...
. Hershey's candies and other products are sold worldwide.
Hershey's is one of the oldest
chocolateChocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC...
companies in the United States, and an American icon for its chocolate bar. The Hershey Company owns many other candy companies and is also affiliated with
Hershey Entertainment and Resorts CompanyHershey Entertainment and Resorts is a privately owned company of the Hershey Trust Company.- History :The company was originally founded by Milton S...
, which runs
HersheyparkHersheypark is an amusement park located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, near the Hershey Chocolate Factory.Hersheypark was opened in 1907 as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company, an American confectionery company. Later, the company decided to open the park to the public...
, a chocolate-themed amusement park; the
Hershey BearsThe Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League. The team is based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Home games are played at the Giant Center. Hershey is the longest-existing member club in the AHL, joining the league in 1938; the team played its 5,000th game on...
hockey team;
Hersheypark StadiumHersheypark Stadium is a stadium located in Hershey, Pennsylvania on the grounds of Hersheypark. It is used as a sporting facility, concert venue, and location for various other large functions . In addition, Hersheypark Stadium hosted the 2004 Presidential Race Campaign stop for President George...
; and the
GIANT CenterThe GIANT Center is a 12,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town in the Harrisburg metropolitan area. It is home to the Hershey Bears ice hockey team, the longest-existing member club in the American Hockey League, joining the league in 1938...
.
History
After completing an
apprenticeshipApprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
to a confectioner in 1876,
Milton Snavely HersheyMilton Snavely Hershey was a confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the “company town” of Hershey, Pennsylvania.-Early life:...
founded a candy shop in Philadelphia, which failed six years later. After trying unsuccessfully to manufacture candy in New York, Hershey returned to Pennsylvania, where he founded the Lancaster Caramel Company, whose use of fresh milk in caramels proved successful. In 1900, Hershey sold his caramel company for $1,000,000 (about US$24,000,000 in today's currency) and began to concentrate on chocolate manufacturing.
In 1903, Hershey began construction of a chocolate plant in his hometown, Derry Church, Pennsylvania, which later came to be known as
Hershey, Pennsylvania'Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated...
. The milk chocolate bars manufactured at this plant proved successful, and the company grew rapidly thereafter.
While his company was successfully selling sweet chocolate products, Milton Hershey knew that a fortune lay in creating and selling milk chocolate products. Milton built a milk-processing plant in the year 1896, to be able to create and refine a recipe for milk chocolate candies. In 1899, three years later, he developed the Hershey process.
In 1907, Hershey introduced a new candy, small flat-bottomed conical-shaped pieces of chocolate that he named "
Hershey's KissHershey's Kisses are a type of chocolate manufactured by The Hershey Company. The bite-sized pieces of chocolate have a distinctive shape, commonly described as flat-bottomed teardrops. Hershey's Kisses are wrapped in squares of lightweight aluminum foil with a narrow strip of paper protruding...
es". Initially they were individually wrapped by hand in squares of foil, and 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. The product was trademarked three years later and went on to become one of the most successful and well-known products ever produced by the company. (In 2007, in a rare embrace of a commercial product on a first-class stamp, the USPS marked the one-hundredth anniversary of Hershey's by placing an image of one on its Love Stamp.) Other products introduced include
Mr. GoodbarMr. Goodbar is a chocolate flavored candy bar containing peanuts, whose packaging can be easily identified by its distinctive yellow background and red text. It is manufactured by The Hershey Company and was introduced in 1925...
(1925), Hershey’s Syrup (1926), chocolate chips (1928), and the
KrackelKrackel is a chocolate candy bar made by The Hershey Company.Krackel contains crisped rice, and is similar to the competing Nestlé Crunch bar, made by Nestlé. Although originally sold as an individual product, Krackel is now only available as one of the four varieties of Hershey's Miniatures. ...
bar (1938).
Harry Burnett Reese worked at Hershey beginning in 1917 as a dairyman for the Hershey Farms. In 1921 he went to work in the factory. His son (Ralph) later recalled that he said that if Mr. Hershey could sell seven carloads of chocolate a week that he saw no reason why he couldn't sell a couple hundred pounds. Reese experimented at his home with various confections. By 1925 he had developed an assortment of candies which he was able to sell to department stores in Lancaster, advertised as "made in Hershey". In 1926 he built his own factory. During the depression years Reese's company struggled but was aided by Milton Hershey with free sugar and cut-price chocolate as well as with engineering help when Reese's equipment had problems. In 1941 with the wartime rationing of sugar, Reese focused all of his production resources and focus on peanut butter cups which required less sugar than most other confections of the time. The candy became very popular, selling for a penny per cup, and Reese discontinued all of his other products. By the early 1950s his company had become one of the largest candy companies in America with annual sales of $10 million. In 1956 H.B. Reese died without leaving a plan of succession. The company floundered for several years under the control of his 6 surviving sons. In June 1963 Hershey acquired Reese's company for $23.3 million at a time when Reese's sales were $14 million annually.
In 1940, over two years after the defeat of the
CIO unionThe Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
, an affiliate of the
American Federation of LaborThe American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1886 by Samuel Gompers as a reorganization of its predecessor, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions...
successfully organized Hershey's workers under the leadership of John Shearer, who became the locals first president. Currently, Local 464 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers represents the Hershey workers, and although it calls itself the "Chocolate Workers" it has successfully organized workers in other local industries.
In 1941 Bruce Murrie, son of long-term President William F.R. Murrie, struck a deal with Forest Mars to create a hard sugar coated chocolate that would be called
M&M'sM&M's are candy-coated pieces of milk chocolate with the letter "m" printed on them, produced by Mars, Incorporated. Popular in the United States and many other countries, several variations of the candies exist, including milk chocolate, peanut, peanut butter, mint, dark chocolate , and almond....
(named for the two men). Murrie had 20 percent interest in the confection. The new confection would use Hershey chocolate during the rationing era during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1948 Mars bought out Murrie's interest and would become one of Hershey's primary competitors.
In 2007, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association in the United States, whose members include Hershey,
NestléNestlé S.A. is a multinational packaged food company founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, and listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange with a turnover of over 87 billion Swiss francs...
, and
Archer Daniels MidlandThe Archer Daniels Midland Company , is a conglomerate based in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM also provides...
,
lobbiedLobbying is the practice of influencing decisions made by government . It includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators, constituents, or organized groups. A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a...
the
Food and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is a Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, tobacco products, dietary supplements, Medication drugs, vaccines, Biopharmaceutical, blood transfusion,...
to change the legal definition of chocolate to let them substitute partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for cocoa butter in addition to using artificial sweeteners and milk substitutes. Currently, the FDA does not allow a product to be referred to as "chocolate" if the product contains any of these ingredients.
In fall 2007, Hershey changed their milk chocolate recipe by adding lactose, milk fat, and the food additive PGPR. In December 2007, Philadelphia city councilman Juan Ramos called for Hershey's to stop marketing "Ice Breakers Pacs" due to the resemblance of the packaging to that used for street drugs.
In September 2008, MSNBC 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, approximately half of consumers preferred the new versions. As the new versions no longer meet the
Food and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is a Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, tobacco products, dietary supplements, Medication drugs, vaccines, Biopharmaceutical, blood transfusion,...
's definition of "milk chocolate", the changed items were relabeled from stating they were "milk chocolate" and "made with chocolate" to "chocolate candy" and "chocolaty."
Manufacturing plants
The
Hershey, Pennsylvania'Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated...
plant, covering two million square feet of manufacturing space (185,806 square meters), is the largest chocolate factory in the world.
The first plant outside
Hershey, Pennsylvania'Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the U.S. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated...
opened on June 15, 1963 in
Smiths Falls, OntarioSmiths Falls is a town in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is in the census division for Lanark County, but is considered a separated town and does not participate in county government...
, Canada. Hershey's third opened on May 22, 1965 in
Oakdale, CaliforniaOakdale is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 15,503 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city was founded in 1871 when the Stockton & Visalia Railroad met the Copperopolis Railroad. Oakdale goes by the slogan...
. In February and April 2007 Hershey's announced that their Smiths Falls and Oakdale plants would close in 2008, being replaced in part by a new facility in
Monterrey, MexicoMonterrey Monterrey Monterrey (also known as "Sultana del Norte" (Sultan of the North), is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León
It has the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico, after Mexico City and Guadalajara. In 2005, the city...
. The Oakdale factory closed on February 1, 2008. Hershey chocolate factory in São Roque, Brazil was opened in August 2002.
Hershey also has plants in
Stuarts Draft, VirginiaStuarts Draft is a census-designated place in Augusta County, Virginia, United States. The population was 8,367 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Staunton–Waynesboro Micropolitan Statistical Area....
,
Lancaster, PennsylvaniaLancaster is a city in the South Central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is the county seat of Lancaster County. With a population of 55,351, it is the eighth largest city in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, Reading, Bethlehem, and Scranton...
,
Hazleton, PennsylvaniaHazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 23,329 at the 2000 census.-Greater Hazleton:The City of Hazleton and its surrounding communities are collectively known as Greater Hazleton. Greater Hazleton encompasses an area located within three counties:...
, Memphis, Tennesee,
Robinson, IllinoisRobinson is a city in Crawford County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,822 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Crawford County.-Geography:Robinson is located at ....
and
GuadalajaraGuadalajara is the capital city of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of the state and in the western-Pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,579,174 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Tours were operated in the Pennsylvania and California factories, but this is no longer the case. Visitors to Hershey, Pennsylvania can experience
Hershey's Chocolate WorldHershey’s Chocolate World is the name of Hershey’s visitor center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Open year-round, Hershey's Chocolate World offers marketplace shops and restaurants, specializing in Hershey's chocolate products...
visitors center and its simulated tour ride.
Other sales and acquisitions
In 1977, Hershey acquired Y&S Candies, founded in 1845 and now makers of
TwizzlersTwizzlers are a popular brand of fruit-flavored candy in the United States . They are the product of Y&S Candies, Inc., of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, now a subsidiary of The Hershey Company.- History :...
licorice candies.
In 1986, Hershey's began a brief foray into cough drops when it acquired the Luden's cough drops brand. By 2001, the brand had been sold to
PharmaciaPharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden.-History:Pharmacia was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfeldt at the Elgen Pharmacy. The company is named after the Greek word φαρμακεία, transliterated pharmakeia, which means 'medicinal'...
(Ludens is now currently a product of
Johnson & JohnsonJohnson & Johnson is a global American pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500...
). In 1988, Hershey's acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute many Cadbury-branded products in the United States. Cadbury creme eggs sold in the United States are imported by Hershey from Cadbury in the United Kingdom.
On July 25, 2002 it became public knowledge that the
Hershey Trust CompanyHershey Trust Company was created in 1905, as Milton S. Hershey was organized to create the Milton Hershey School. In 1909, when he founded the school, Hershey appointed the Trust as administrator of the school trust...
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. However, over the next 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 were removed by Attorney General Fisher and Judge Morgan. 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.
In July 2005, Hershey acquired the
Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
-based boutique chocolate-maker
Scharffen BergerScharffen Berger Chocolate was a Berkeley, California-based chocolate maker, founded in 1996 by sparkling wine maker John Scharffenberger and physician Robert Steinberg....
.
In November 2005, Hershey acquired
Joseph Schmidt ConfectionsJoseph Schmidt Confections is a San Francisco-based chocolatier, which produces gourmetconfections using imported Belgian chocolate. The current line of confections includes large, mini and petit truffles, Slicks, and Mosaics.-Early:...
, the
San FranciscoSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
-based chocolatier.
In November 2006, Hershey acquired Dagoba Organic Chocolate, a boutique chocolate maker based in
Ashland, OregonAshland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...
.
Hershey's chocolate is available across the United States, due to their wide network of distribution. They have three mega
distribution centerA distribution center for a set of products is a warehouse or other specialized building, often with refrigeration or air conditioning, which is stocked with products to be re-distributed to retailers, to wholesalers or directly to consumers. A distribution center is a principal part, the "order...
s, with modern technology and labor management systems.
Product recalls
- In November 2006, the Smiths Falls production plant in Ontario, Canada temporarily shut down and several products were voluntarily recalled after concerns over salmonella
Salmonella is a genus of rod-shaped, Gram-negative, non-spore forming, predominantly motile enterobacteria with diameters around 0.7 to 1.5 µm, lengths from 2 to 5 µm, and flagella which project in all directions...
contamination possibly found in soy lecithinLecithin is any of a group of yellow-brownish fatty substances occurring in animal and plant tissues, and in egg yolk, composed of phosphoric acid, choline, fatty acids, glycerol, glycolipids, triglycerides, and phospholipids...
within their production line. It is believed that most of the products involved in the recall never made it to the retail level.
- In July 1998, a number of 100-gram milk chocolate bars were recalled because they may have contained traces of almonds not listed in the ingredients. The chocolate bars were sold for fund-raising events.
See also
External links