A year into leading The Hershey Company, I have been thinking about what it is that makes a business durable. Hershey has witnessed two World Wars, the Great Depression and two dozen U.S. presidents. Milton Hershey started making chocolate in 1894 with a simple bet that still feels modern: treating people well and building something that lasts matters more than any single quarter. As America celebrates its 250th and Hershey celebrates its 132nd year, that bet is relevant for every leader looking to build or grow a company that lasts.
Our products sit in most American pantries. That kind of presence can breed complacency if you let it. It did not take long to learn that presence is not the same as preference. People do not choose a brand because it has always been there. They choose it because it still means something to them today.
Take the Reese’s brand, for example. Even though it’s been loved by consumers for nearly 100 years, we can’t sit still.
A year ago, we turned a long-running consumer behavior – dipping an Oreo in peanut butter – and turned it into a real product. Twelve months later, REESE’S OREO has generated more than $188 million in retail sales and become one of the most successful candy innovations of the last decade. It was a big bet on whether two iconic brands could turn fan demand into real growth – and it proved to me that enduring companies last because they keep earning relevance with the next generation of consumers. A year later, its success underscores a challenge that feels more urgent than at any point in recent memory: enduring companies have to keep proving, with every generation, why they still matter.
That’s the kind of innovation we are leading at Hershey: not novelty for its own sake, but a faster way to turn what consumers are already telling us into something only we can deliver. Over the past year, we’ve increased R&D investment, expanded our technical capabilities and accelerated how quickly we move from consumer insight to commercialization. We’ve expanded our innovation pipeline by more than 50% and created new ways to test, learn and scale ideas faster.
Reach without relevance is just noise
Building a company that lasts requires more than one successful product or launch. It requires a system for staying close to consumers and acting on what you learn. Our job is not to earn relevance once. It’s to keep our core relevant all the time.
This year we changed course starting with “Hershey’s. It’s Your Happy Place,” our biggest campaign for the brand in eight years, debuting at the Winter Olympics and carrying through a nostalgic S’mores campaign and Christian Pulisic’s World Cup run. It will continue through the end of the year with a once-in-a-generation moment: the HERSHEY Movie, sharing our founder’s story on the big screen for the first time.
Scaling means integrating, not just adding
A year ago, Hershey sold confection and salty snacks largely as separate businesses talking to the same retailers. We changed that with the ONE Hershey model, bringing confection, salty and functional snacking to market with one voice. Instead of thinking only in categories, we’re helping retailers think about occasions, consumer needs and the full range of snacking experiences consumers want. We’re doing this through a single investment strategy and a 1,200-person sales force covering more than 75,000 stores. We backed that model with results. This year, North America salty snacks sales grew 23%, nearly four times faster than the company overall, demonstrating the early impact in scaling a broader snacking portfolio.
Milton Hershey built more than a candy company. He built a town, then a school, then a trust that ties the company’s success directly to funding education for children in need. Every Hershey’s bar and bag of Dot’s Pretzels sold helps fund that mission. That’s the discipline behind our business: innovation only matters if it funds something durable.
The lesson from my first year leading The Hershey Company is simple: legacy is a mandate, not a moat. Companies that endure are the ones willing to keep listening, keep adapting and keep proving why they matter to the consumers who grew up with them and to the next generation. That is how we honor what Milton Hershey built. We make sure it continues to grow, evolve and make moments of goodness for another 132 years.
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