The Hershey Company, often called Hershey or Hershey's, is an American multinational confectionery company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. The Hershey Company is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world; it also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes and beverages like milkshakes, as well as other products (through mergers and acquisitions). The Hershey Company was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, originally established as 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.
Hershey's chocolate is available in 60 countries. It has three large distribution centers with modern labor management systems.The Supply Chain & Logistics Institute # Chris Malon, Hershey Foods. Retrieved July 3, 2006. In addition, Hershey is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation. It is also associated with the Hersheypark Stadium and the Giant Center.
The Hershey Company has no affiliation to Hershey Creamery Company, though both companies were founded in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the same year. The companies have had a tumultuous relationship marked by multiple legal battles over trademark issues. In the mid-1990s, the companies settled their most recent legal battles out of court, with Hershey Creamery Company agreeing to add a disclaimer to its ice cream products to note that it is not affiliated with the Hershey Company.
History 19th century
After an apprenticeship to a Lancaster confectioner in 1873, Milton S. Hershey opened a candy shop in Philadelphia. The venture failed, and so did a subsequent one in Chicago. After a third failed business attempt in New York City, Hershey returned to Pennsylvania, where he founded the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1883. The Hershey Chocolate Company was founded in 1894 as a subsidiary of Lancaster Caramel Company.
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 the Hershey's Milk Chocolate bar.
20th century
The use of fresh milk in caramels proved successful,Reference For Business.com. Retrieved June 30, 2006. 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 (equal to $ today), and concentrated on chocolate. To people who questioned him, he said, "Caramels are just a fad, but chocolate is a permanent thing."
In 1902, the distinctive brown wrapper was introduced, replacing an earlier white wrapper. Gold lettering was initially used, but was later replaced by silver lettering following complaints from the Peter's Chocolate company, which already used a brown wrapper and gold lettering for its milk chocolate bars.
In 1903, Hershey began construction of a chocolate plant in his hometown of Derry Church, Pennsylvania, later known as Hershey, Pennsylvania. The town was an inexpensive place for the workers and their families to live, though the factory 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. The milk chocolate bars from this plant proved popular, and the company grew rapidly.
In 1905, the Hershey Chocolate Company relocated from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Hershey, Pennsylvania when the original chocolate factory in Hershey was completed.
In 1907, he introduced a new candy: bite-sized, flat-bottomed, conical pieces of chocolate that he named Hershey's Kiss. At first, each was wrapped by hand in a square of aluminum foil. The introduction of machine wrapping in 1921 sped up the process and added a small paper ribbon to the top of the package, indicating that it was a genuine Hershey product. Today, over 70 million candies are produced daily.
Other products introduced included Mr. Goodbar (peanuts in milk chocolate) in 1925, Hershey's Syrup in 1926, semi-sweet chocolate chips (a mixture of milk and dark chocolate) in 1928, and the Krackel bar with crisped rice in 1938.
Milton Hershey School (MHS)
Unable to have children of his own, Milton S. Hershey, founder of the Hershey Company, founded the Hershey Industrial School in 1909 for white orphaned boys. 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. The school's initial purpose was to train young men in trades but eventually shifted to focus on preparation for college. The Hershey Trust Company has exercised voting rights for the school and has been a trustee since its founding.
Many of its designs resemble Hershey chocolate products, such as the Hershey Kisses street lights. 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.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Harry Burnett Reese invented Reese's Peanut Butter Cups after founding the H. B. Reese Candy Company in 1923. Reese died on May 16, 1956, in West Palm Beach, Florida, leaving the company to his six sons. 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 1969, only six years after the Reese/Hershey merger, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups became the Hershey Company's top seller. As of September 20, 2012, Reese's was the best-selling candy brand in the United States, with sales of $2.603 billion, and the fourth-best-selling brand globally, with sales of $2.679 billion. In 2026, after 63 years of stock splits, the original 666,316 shares of Hershey common stock received by the Reese family represent 16 million Hershey shares valued at more than $4.4 billion, paying annual cash dividends of $92.9 million.
Unionization
In the late 1930s, Hershey confronted labor unrest as a Congress of Industrial Organizations-backed union attempted to organize the factory workers. A failed sit-down strike in 1937 ended in violence; 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 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 now represents the Hershey workforce.
Atlantic City soap venture From around 1938 to 1952, Milton Hershey tried to make toilet soap, which saw a big boom after the Great Depression as well as other hygiene-related items such as shampoo, toothpaste and perfume. Hershey took this opportunity to try to open a store on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, which sold cocoa butter scented toilet soap. The shop was a success for several decades, and the soap's production was sourced from Hershey Estates. Other soaps such as keystone soap, tar soap and shaving soap were also sold at the shop. Product distribution extended from New York City to Baltimore by 1953, when the shop closed down.
M&M's
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 chocolates that would be called M&M's (for Mars and Murrie). Murrie had a 20% interest in the product, which used Hershey chocolate during World War II rationing. In 1948, Mars bought out Murrie and became one of Hershey's main competitors."Murrie, William F.R.; 1873–1950", hersheyarchives.com. Cf section "The Story of M & Ms"
Kit Kat and Rolo
In 1969, Hershey received a perpetual license from UK-based 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 agreement, and so Hershey continues to make and market the products in the U.S. under a "change of control" clause, the license would revert to Nestlé if Hershey were sold. This became a sticking point in Hershey's failed attempt to attract a serious buyer in 2002, and even Nestlé rejected Hershey's asking price, feeling that the economics would not work.
Cadbury
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, which reportedly angered consumers. 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.
20th century sales and acquisitions
In 1977, Hershey acquired Y&S Candies (based in nearby Lancaster), makers of Twizzlers licorice candies, founded in 1845.
In 1986, Hershey's made a brief foray into cough drops when it acquired the Luden's cough drops brand. In 2001, the brand was sold to Pharmacia, now part of Pfizer,Hersheys.com. Retrieved September 29, 2006. and Luden's later was acquired by Prestige Brands. 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, which is now part of Ebro Foods.
21st century
On July 25, 2002, Hershey Trust Company announced that it sought to sell its controlling interest in the Hershey Foods Corporation. The value of Hershey stock rose 25% in a single day, with over 19 million shares traded. Over the following 55 days, criticism of the intended sale from media, the Pennsylvania Attorney General, the Hershey, and Dauphin County Orphans' Court senior judge, led the company to abandon its attempt to sell the company. Seven Hershey trustees who voted to sell Hershey Foods on September 17, 2002, for US$12.5 billion to the Wrigley Company, which is now part of Mars, Incorporated, were removed by Pennsylvania's Attorney and the Dauphin County Orphans' Court judge. Ten of the 17 trustees were forced to resign and four new members who lived locally were appointed. Former Pennsylvania Attorney General LeRoy S. Zimmerman became the new chairman of the reconstituted Milton Hershey School Trustees. Zimmerman publicly committed to having the Milton Hershey School Trust always maintain its ownership of the Hershey Company.
In December 2004, Hershey acquired the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp. from The Shansby Group.
In 2005, Krave Jerky was founded by Jon Sebastiani after he trained for a marathon and looked for a healthy source of energy. Alliance Consumer Growth, a private equity group, invested in Krave Jerky in 2012. Hershey's purchased the company in 2015 for $240 million. Hershey would later in 2020 sell Krave Jerky to Sonoma Brands, the food industry incubator founded by Sebastiani in 2016.
In July 2005, Hershey acquired the Berkeley, California-based boutique chocolate-maker Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker.Sfgate.com. Retrieved June 30, 2006. 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.