Earlier this week, news of snack giant Mondelez’s 23 billion dollar takeover bid for Hershey’s shot through the town of Hershey, PA faster than you could say chocolate. While the offer was quickly rejected, its mere existence and the potential for future offers like it left many residents of Hershey with a taste in their mouths that was anything but sweet.
Though Mondelez conceded to retain the name Hershey’s through the merger and to locate its global headquarters in Hershey, there was still something unsettling about the deal. The deal itself called into question what exactly the chocolate means not just to the town of Hershey itself, but to its residents as well.
Alongside our education of math and science in Hershey, we were also given a sort of “chocolate education” which when we were younger may have held just as much importance to us. I’m sure we can all remember at least some of the stories of Milton Hershey and his caramel company, his wife Kitty, or how he was supposed to be on the Titanic (if you don’t remember any of that then a quick trip on the trolley should help). Milton Hershey seemed to us a sort of super-hero and we relished the idea that we lived in a town bearing the name of such a benevolent and fantastical man.
Growing up being taught to love Hershey and everything that the name stood for, this proposed merger seemed like a personal attack and if carried through, made me feel as though Hershey would never be the same. Initial reactions to the news were often “why?” and while I do not pretend to understand the inner workings of the business world or if a merger should logistically be in Hershey’s future, I cannot help but echo the same question: why?
One of the most unsettling things about the Mondolez deal is that Hershey’s would be the company being acquired. In my mind I always believed that Hershey’s- my beloved Hershey’s- was a company that acquires others, rather than the other way around. It felt as though through this proposed deal we would be losing some of the essence of what makes us Hershey, something that we cannot afford.
This same feeling resonated through the town two years ago when our beloved chocolate factory was tragically demolished. I can’t help but feel a little sad every time I drive by there and see what once stood as a glorious example of the might of our town reduced to a pile of dust, leaving us only with our memories of what once was. I do not want to be left with merely memories though which is why the initial announcement of Mondolez’s offer gave the knee jerk reaction of uneasiness.
Though we may sometimes deride Hershey by calling it “the chocolate bubble,” the truth is that we love to say that we came from Hershey because the chocolate is part of who we are. This chocolate town is the one that molded us, the one that shaped us, the one that made all other street lights seem boring, and the one that I am proud to call home. It really is the sweetest place on earth.
