About the Company
The Hershey Company or Hershey Foods Corp is a multinational enterprise headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Commonly known as Hershey's, it is one of the world's largest chocolate manufacturing companies as of 2020. It has a workforce of over 15,300 employees in its 16 plants and other operations spread across the globe in countries like India, South Korea, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Japan, the United States, etc. Its products are available in more than 60 countries around the world.
It has over 80 different brands under four segments, namely chocolate, nuts & caramel, candy and mint & gum. Some of its most popular brands are Jolly Ranchers, Cadbury, Reese's, KitKat, Hershey's Kisses, Brookside, Whoppers, Twizzlers, Ice Breakers, Milk Duds, Rolo, Hershey's, Almond Joy, etc. It offers products like cookies, cakes, candies, chocolates, milkshakes, drinks and a lot more worldwide. The company claims that its products consist of mostly four ingredients, that are sugar, cocoa, nuts and milk.
Hershey's was established in 1873 by Milton Hershey as a candy shop in Philadelphia, where it remained operational for merely six years. He then learnt how to make caramel under a confectioner in Denver and returned to Pennsylvania after another failed business venture in New York. In 1886 he opened the Lancaster Caramel Company, only to sell it in 1893 and start manufacturing chocolate by 1894. By the beginning of the 20th century, he began to manufacture Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars following which he introduced Hershey's Kisses in 1907, Mr Goodbar in 1925, Hershey's Syrup in 1926, Krackel in 1938, etc.
Over its tenure, Hershey's has undergone several mergers and acquisitions such as H.B. Reese Candy Company in 1963, Rolo and KitKat manufacturing rights in the US in 1969, Y&S Candies (1977), Luden's (1986), rights to manufacture and market Cadbury products in the US (1988), Leaf Candy Company's American operations (1996), Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp (2004), Joseph Schmidt Confections (2005), Brookside Foods Ltd (2011), barkTHINS (2016), Amplify Snack Brands (2017), etc.
The company entered the S&P 500 list on 4th March 1957 and trades under the ticker symbol HSY in the New York Stock Exchange. It is the 398th company in the Fortune 500 list and the 848th in Forbes Global 2000 as of 2020. It also made to three more Forbes 2020 lists and the 2021 list of Just Companies.;
Organisation | Hershey Company The |
Industry | Confectioners |
HeadQuarters | Hershey, PA |