April 10, 2026
The morning of March 31 was especially sweet at the New York Stock Exchange. As the smell of chocolate wafted through the building and costumed Hershey characters paraded around the trading floor, our President and CEO Kirk Tanner rang the iconic opening bell. It marked the kick-off for our 2026 Investor Day and felt like a celebration in the world's financial capital.
To start, NYSE President Lynn Martin thanked The Hershey Company for the role its products play in her own household and in the lunchboxes of her two sons. “In this incredibly volatile time, what people need more than anything are the little luxuries in life. And your brands are those little luxuries that make us feel better,” said Martin. “It’s the ... feel-good snacks that give us that much-needed pickup when sometimes the world just feels heavy.”
That sentiment carried throughout the day, as we outlined how we’re leading Next Generation Snacking. Investors walked away with a clear message: Hershey is using its momentum to build durable advantage and a clear strategy, investing in the core brands that drive scale, expanding into faster-growing snacking segments across sweet, salty and functional snacking (starting with protein) and modernizing the operating engine through technology, supply chain and commercial capabilities. This helps us move fast, execute better and keep pace with changing consumer behavior.
Leading Next Gen Snacking
In recent years, we’ve expanded well beyond our roots as a chocolate powerhouse, and it’s paying off. Our snacking portfolio across sweet, salty and protein categories allows us to participate in nearly a quarter of total U.S. snacking today.
Looking ahead, Hershey plans to continue identifying opportunities in fast-growing segments while supporting its core brands, like Reese’s and Hershey’s. Historically, those core brands grew through availability and awareness. Today, however, visibility alone isn’t enough.
Our next advantage isn’t more reach; it’s more resonance. Reach gets us seen, but resonance helps us get chosen. For that, we’re using AI to uncover new ways to connect with consumers. The Reese’s Oreo Cup launch shows what this approach can deliver: our social-first Oreo campaign, rooted in cultural insights and powered by targeted audiences and real-time optimization, generated billions of earned impressions and was 1.5x more effective than previous Reese’s campaigns. Marketing is also increasingly being built around everyday rituals, like packing a lunchbox with Hershey’s Kisses, and cultural moments like the March Madness® Reese’s partnership and limited-edition Olympic and Paralympic medals made of Hershey’s chocolate.
We’re also building our next billion-dollar brands and projecting more than $1.5 billion in sales over the next five years from innovation across key areas, including premium, functional (including protein), as well as customization and multisensory experiences. The global market is another focus, with expansion underway in Mexico, Europe and the United Kingdom and Brazil.
While Hershey is readily associated with confection, our salty representation continues gaining ground. Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels and SkinnyPop popcorn each rose to No. 1 in their respective categories, and we’re aiming to move from the No. 4 position to No. 2 in the overall salty snacks category in the coming years. To get there, we’re listening to what consumers want and responding with new pack types and products (like Dot’s Original Snack Mix), reintroducing brands like Pirate’s Booty puffs as permissible snacks and acquiring promising brands like LesserEvil. Through Velocity Lab, we’re also developing exciting new products, like Twizzlers Straws, to tap into cultural trends and create memorable experiences.
Shaping the future of retail
The broader portfolio strategy is also reshaping how Hershey shows up in stores. In the past, confection, salty and protein operated as separate divisions. Today, they’re unified under ONE Hershey, a commercial model that integrates sweet, salty and protein to sell as a unified portfolio to retailers, designed to combine the company’s strengths and unlock growth across its repertoire of products.
Picture a “Movie Night” merchandising display filled with SkinnyPop, Milk Duds, Twizzlers and other movie-night musts: that’s ONE Hershey in action.
Everything we do going forward will show more of the portfolio, bringing sweet, salty and protein together in the way we serve retailers and shoppers. The approach is designed to benefit retail partners, who are looking for more than just products. Through its retail sales force (1,100 reps serving more than 75,000 stores), we serve as a total snacking advisor, offering insights and support across its categories. Technology plays a key role. Sales teams use tools that optimize routes, generate insights, identify opportunities and even create images of merchandising displays using augmented reality. All of these tools and techniques help boost efficiency and sales.
Our retailers want a partner that’s easy to do business with, brings strong insights, and executes with excellence in stores. ONE Hershey is designed to deliver on all three through a single, united voice.
Investing in a modern supply chain
When a shopper reaches for a Hershey product, a lot has already happened behind the scenes. Availability, quality, sustainability and value all depend on a supply chain built to deliver under pressure.
Our supply chain is a competitive advantage that supports growth through agility and efficiency. Technology underpins much of this work, and it shows up in varied ways. Market intelligence, for example, enables buyers to make informed decisions about volatile markets, including cocoa. Modernized factories, including Hershey’s first digitally integrated factory, are increasing speed, capacity and agility. And decision intelligence connects the dots across the supply chain to optimize inventory, reduce waste and improve service. Over the next two years, our decision intelligence capabilities could potentially increase productivity by $50 million and reduce inventory by $100 million.
We view supply chain investment as a virtuous cycle: productivity fuels reinvestment, reinvestment drives growth and growth creates more opportunities to unlock productivity. When we faced inflationary pressures, we leaned in, investing in our talent, brands, supply chain and innovation and R&D capabilities.
Ringing the bell was symbolic, but our focus is clear: as ONE Hershey, we’re investing in the brands people love and strengthening the capabilities that help us lead next generation snacking to show up for consumers in the moments that matter most.
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