Hershey Foods Corporation
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The original Hershey's chocolate factory, 1976
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| Public | |
| Traded as | |
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | February 9, 1894 (as Hershey Chocolate Company) Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Founder | Milton S. Hershey |
| Headquarters | Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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John Bilbrey (President and CEO) |
| Products | List of products manufactured by The Hershey Company |
| Revenue |
 US$7.421 billion (2014) |
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US$1.389 billion (2014) |
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US$846 million (2014) |
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| Total assets |
US$5.629 billion (2014) |
| Total equity |
 US$1.519 billion (2014) |
| Owner | Hershey Trust Company |
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Number of employees
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14,800 (2014) |
| Website | www |
The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. Hershey's products are sold in over 60 countries worldwide. In addition, Hershey is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation. It is also associated with the Hersheypark Stadium and the Giant Center.
After completing an apprenticeship to a confectioner in 1873, Milton S. Hershey founded a candy shop in Philadelphia. This candy shop was only open for six years, after which Hershey apprenticed with another confectioner in Denver, where he learned to make caramel. After another failed business attempt in New York, Hershey returned to Pennsylvania, where in 1886 he founded the Lancaster Caramel Company. The use of fresh milk in caramels proved successful, and in 1900, after seeing chocolate-making machines for the first time at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Hershey sold his caramel company for $1,000,000 (equal to $28,788,000 today), and began to concentrate on chocolate manufacturing, stating to people who questioned him, "Caramels are just a fad, but chocolate is a permanent thing."
In 1896, Milton built a milk-processing plant so he could create and refine a recipe for milk chocolate candies. In 1899, he developed the Hershey process which is less sensitive to milk quality than traditional methods, and in 1900, he began manufacturing Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars, also called Hershey's Bars or Hershey Bars.
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Wikipedia