Name: Watch Hershey's CEO Michele Buck Discuss her Big Plans for Small Snacks
Uploaded: 2019-12-11
Duration: 5 min 10 s
Description: Consumers are snacking more than ever before, and Hershey’s wants to be on the forefront of the expanding industry.

 Michelle, you've said that you want Hershey to be an innovation snacking powerhouse. Tell us what you mean by that. So Hershey has wonderful iconic brands, like Hershey's and Reese's, Kisses, and Kit Kat, that consumers love. What many people may not know is that we're actually the number 2 snacking player by virtue of being number 1 in confections. And so my vision is how do we take that to the next level? How do we meet even more snacking occasions for consumers, both by expanding the presence of our iconic loved brands, and also by expanding our portfolio to offer other types of snacks? So you're saying you want to go beyond the chocolates and the sweets into snacks. I mean, what are you picturing? If we look at consumers, they're now snacking more than ever before. So in some occasions, they're looking for treats, like we deliver at Hershey's today. And in other occasions, they're looking for something that's a little bit more nutrient dense or perhaps better for you. So our Reese's snack mix, for example, has Reese's. It also has pretzels, peanuts, et cetera that offer more satiety and more of a meal bridge type of snack. Well, as you know, so many of the big food companies are also moving in this direction and have a bit of a head start on you. So how are you going to compete in this very crowded market? I think one of our strengths as a company has always been our razor sharp focus on the consumer and on the customer. We've always excelled at having some of the best insights. And I think that's how you win. You must be consumer-obsessed, understand everything about how the consumer lives their life and what they're looking for. And if you can have the best insights, and be smartest in the marketplace in that way, I think you can win. On your very first day as CEO of Hershey, you sent out a letter to Hershey's 15,000 employees. And you said, in this new chapter for Hershey, it's time for transformational thinking. And you said that-- you urged them to be open to all ideas, no matter where they come from. How's that going so far? What kind of feedback are you getting? It is going great. People see what's going on, and they know that, to win, we have to think boldly, we have to be willing to operate with speed, be willing to make decisions with 80% of the information and then pivot and change course. So our employees are really starting to grab hold of this. Did you get any suggestions about mergers, acquisitions? How open are you to that? I'm very open to mergers and acquisitions and they play-- I see them playing a key role in our growth agenda going forward. We've an opportunity with mergers and acquisitions to go into spaces where our brands currently can't travel. And that will be one way that we will grow. Michelle, just a few months ago, Mondelez made a big unsolicited offer to buy Hershey. It fell through. It seemed like a great concept bringing together these two iconic companies, and creating a snacking and confectionery giant on a global scale. Can you see doing a big merger like that, maybe with a different partner? You know, I am open to many opportunities going forward. I'm very focused right now on driving our internal growth relative to driving our core business, winning within the traditional box of retailers, as well as expanding aggressively in e-commerce, bringing great innovation to the marketplace, and pursuing acquisition. All right. So because you said, in that letter, you want transformational thinking, what will it take for you to do a transformative deal? Obviously, price is part of it. But what else? I think it's about-- a great acquisition, a transformational acquisition, is about the right marriage of portfolios, expansion into new areas that are on trend with consumers, and of course, the right price always factors into that as well, where you can really create value across those two companies for consumers and into the marketplace. I know you like to move fast. Have you already started looking and talking to your bankers about possibilities out there? You know, we have bankers on staff with whom we are constantly working and evaluating any number of assets that are in the marketplace. We have a team internally who is focused on analyzing companies that are in the snacking space to really help us to zero in on what might be the best fit for us. So looking ahead, two three years, what will people be saying about Hershey? How will they describe it? How will it be different? People will say that Hershey is a snacking company, as opposed to a confection company. People will say that they are amazed at how Hershey has moved aggressively, has been able to take bold steps, and has a culture that is vibrant and embracing all the change in the marketplace today. 

Watch Hershey's CEO Michele Buck Discuss her Big Plans for Small Snacks

Leadership

Consumers are snacking more than ever before, and Hershey’s wants to be on the forefront of the expanding industry.

Michelle, You said that you want her. She d be on innovation. Snacking powerhouse. Tell us what you mean by that So her. She has wonderful, iconic brands like Hershey's and Greases Kisses and Kit Kat that consumers love. What many people may not know is that we're actually the number two snacking player by virtue of being number one in confection. And so my vision is, How do we take that to the next level? How did we meet even more snacking occasions for consumers, both by expanding the presence of our iconic loved brands and also by expanding our portfolio to offer other types of snacks? So you're saying you want to go beyond the chocolates in the suite into snack? What are you picturing? We look at consumers there now, snacking more and more than ever before. So in some occasions they're looking for treats like we deliver it. Hershey's today, and in other occasions they're looking for something that's a little bit more nutrient dense or perhaps better for you. So our recent snack mix, for example, has Reese is. It also has pretzels, peanuts, etcetera that offer more satiety and more of a meal bridge type of snack. Well, as you know, as so many of the big food companies are also moving in this direction and have a bit of a head start on you. So how are you going to compete in this very crowded market? I think one of our strengths of the company has always been our razor sharp focus on the consumer and on the customer. We've always excelled at having some of the best insights, and I think that's how you win. You must be consumer obsessed, understand everything about how the consumer lives, their life and what they're looking for. And if you can have the best insight and be smartest in the marketplace in that way, I think you can win. On your very first day of CEO of Hershey, you sent out a letter to her. She's 15,000 employees, and you said in this new chapter for her she it's time for transformational thinking and and you said that you urged them to be open to all idea, no matter where they come from. How's that going so far? What kind of feedback are you getting? It is going great. People see what's going on and they know that toe win. We have to think boldly. We have to be willing to operate with speed, be willing to make decisions with 80% of the information, and then pivot and change course. So our employees are really starting to take. Take grab ahold of this. Did you get any suggestions about mergers? Acquisitions? How often are you to that? I'm very open to mergers and acquisitions and they play. I see them playing a key role in our growth agenda. Going forward, we have an opportunity with mergers and acquisitions. To go into space is where our brands currently can't travel, and that will be one way that we will grow. Michelle just a few months ago, moaned, Elise made a big, unsolicited offer to buy her. She it fell through. It seemed like a great concept of bringing together these two iconic companies and creating a snacking and confectionery giant on a global scale. Can you see doing a big merger like that? Maybe with a different partner, you know, I am open thio many opportunities going forward. I'm very focused right now on driving our internal growth relative to driving our core business winning within the traditional box of retailers as well as expanding aggressively in e commerce, bringing great innovation to the marketplace and pursuing acquisition Alright. So because you said in that letter, you want transformational thinking, what will it take for you to do a transformative deal? Obviously, Price is part of it. But what else? I think it's about a great acquisition of transformational acquisition is about the right marriage of portfolios expansion into new areas that are on trend with consumers. And of course, um, you know the right price always factors into that as well, where you could really create value across those two companies for consumers and into the marketplace. I know you like to move fast. Have you already started looking and talking to your bankers about possibilities out there? You know, we have bankers on staff with whom were constantly working and evaluating any number of assets that are in the market place. We have a team internally who is focused on analyzing companies that are in the snacking space to really help us to zero in on what might be the best fit for us. Still looking ahead 23 years, what will people be saying about her? She How will they describe how will be different people will say that her she is a snacking company as opposed to a confection company. People will say that they are amazed at how her she has moved aggressively, has been able to take bold steps and has a culture that is vibrant and embracing all the change in the marketplace today.