June 30, 2025
It’s no surprise that the seasons are a big deal at The Hershey Company. But there’s one season we celebrate that’s not on any calendar: s’mores season. Every year, starting in May, we pay tribute to summer’s favorite dessert. Because we believe that a s’more is so much greater than the sum of all its parts. It’s a memory in the making.
This year, as a way of celebrating the beloved s’more, The Hershey Company launched its very first s’mores-inspired product: HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate with Caramel bar.
Every aspect of this limited-edition bar was engineered with s’mores in mind. Let’s start with its square shape. Our team designed a special mold to make this bar so that it will fit perfectly on a graham cracker. Look closely, and you’ll see the words “HERSHEY’S S’mores” branded on the chocolate. And when you take a bite, the caramel core drips out, adding to the ooey gooey nature of a s’more.
Pro tip: your s’more will look especially cute if you use a square marshmallow.
Blending innovation with tradition
The idea for the HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate with Caramel bar really originated with consumers. Our conversations and surveys with consumers revealed a delicious trend: caramel is the third most popular ingredient people love to add to their s’mores for an extra layer of indulgence.
So we decided to lean into what they were already doing and offer a fun twist on a time-honored tradition (REESE’S peanut butter is another favorite addition). For the product launch in May, we partnered with country singer Russell Dickerson and his wife, Kailey, and shared s’mores with them and their two young kids in their Nashville backyard. We also got to tour Dickerson’s tour bus, complete with its portable s’mores setup for when he’s on the road. Long before we met him, he was a committed s’mores fan, through and through, and he loves passing that ritual on to his sons.
Developing this new HERSHEY’S bar has been a meaningful project. It allowed us to really build on the s’mores-making experience, which goes back generations. So many of us cherish our memories of assembling s’mores, whether we were away at summer camp or at home with friends and family in our own backyards. It’s a custom that’s as popular as ever for young families today. In early June, HERSHEY’S Consumer Insights team conducted a survey and found that 52% of respondents had made s’mores in the last year, and 47% plan to make even more s’mores this summer than they did last summer. They also learned some fun facts about methods people use to make their s’mores: while open fires lead the way (56%), consumers are also using their microwaves (30%), outdoor grills (30%), toaster ovens (19%), stovetop (19%), oven (16%) and s’mores makers (15%).1
I love learning about the creative lengths people are going to make their s’mores. It’s a reminder that there are no rules dictating how to arrange your graham crackers and chocolate, or the way you heat your marshmallows. Every s’mores maker brings their own creativity to the table, and those differences add to the conversation and memories. Now, HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate with Caramel bar offers another modern twist.
Passing the s’mores torch
My husband and I recently bought a portable fire pit, so we’ve been making s’mores a lot. Our three kids are young—the oldest is four and the twins are two-and-a-half—so they’re still working towards eating a full s’more. Sharing this tradition with them feels so special to me, and it’s brought back childhood memories of nibbling HERSHEY’S bars with my grandparents.
I know my kids will grow up, and times will change. But as I clean the sticky chocolate and gooey caramel from their messy little faces, I like to imagine that one day they’ll pass this ritual on to their children, and s’mores season will live on. Because it’s just not summer until there are s’mores. Savor s’more moments together at Hersheyland.com, where you can shop for HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate with Caramel bars, explore other elite combos like Cookies ‘N’ Creme and even learn how to make your own solar oven.
1 Hershey Consumer Insights, Consumer Brain Candy, June 3, 2025.