Case The Hershey Company

Headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, The Hershey Company is the largest chocolate producer in

North America and a confectionary leader worldwide, with over 80 brands, annual revenues of over $7

billion, with about 20,000 employees, and operations in about 80 countries. Hershey offers chocolates as

well as other candies, mints, and chewing gum. Notable products include Hershey Kisses, Mr. Goodbar,

Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers, Ice Breakers, and, what may arguably be the best selling candy bar on the

planet —Reese’s, a Hershey brand that became an official sponsor of ESPN college football game day, in

2015. Hershey is currently expanding globally with strategic emphasis on markets in China and Mexico,

but the company still derives about 85 percent of its revenue from the USA. In 2015, Hershey introduced

products like KitKat White Minis, Hershey’s caramels, Reese’s Spreads Snacksters, and Graham Dippers.

In early 2015, Hershey acquired KRAVE Pure Foods, Inc. for about $300 million. KRAVE, founded

in 2009, is a maker of beef jerky and other high-protein snacks. Hershey is focusing on getting a

share of the ever-increasing meat snacks market, and building its capacity to make foods that consumers

want to snack on. It expects the U.S. meat snacks category, valued at about $2.5 billion, to grow

at a double-digit pace. Hershey plans to operate KRAVE, which saw $35 million in sales in 2014, as

a single business unit in the North America division; KRAVE’s founder, Mr. Sebastiani, continues to

head the business as the company’s president.