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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowHershey is expanding its salty snack portfolio with the purchase of Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels.
The Hershey Co. said Wednesday it will spend $1.2 billion for North Dakota-based Dot’s Pretzels LLC as well as Pretzels Inc., a Bluffton, Indiana-based manufacturer of Dot’s Pretzels that operates three plants. The deal is expected to close later this year.
Hershey, which is based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, has been seeing faster growth for salty snacks like Pirate’s Booty than its other offerings. In the July-September period, for example, Hershey’s U.S. candy, mint and gum retail sales were up 8.9% over the prior year. But SkinnyPop, its popcorn brand, was up 23%, while Pirate’s Booty jumped 27%.
Hershey President and CEO Michele Buck said Dot’s is the fastest-growing pretzel brand in the U.S. and will help accelerate Hershey’s move into salty snacks.
Dot’s began more than a decade ago in the kitchen of founder Dot Henke, who made pretzels to help her family and friends get through North Dakota’s winters. The company and Pretzels Inc. had estimated sales of $275 million in the year ended in September, Hershey said.
Pretzels Inc. has plants in Bluffton and Plymouth, Indiana, and in Lawrence, Kansas, that make pretzels and extruded snacks such as cheese puffs.
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Dot’s Pretzels are indeed tasty and I love snacking on them, but I laugh every time I read the story on the label.. “Dot’s Pretzels are a special family snack created many years ago by Dot in her home kitchen.” followed by the ingredient list. I like to imagine Dot whipping up a fresh batch on a cold North Dakota day, tossing in a bit of MSG and calcium lactate to see how it tastes… running a new recipe past the kids with an extra touch of Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin and Folic Acid… and finally figuring out the perfect amount of Maltodextrin to perfect the recipe. Hah!
you mean you don’t have those items in your pantry??
Pretty simple; the difference between making a pound of it for the family that they will immediately consume…or making thousands of pounds that need to have the shelflife to hold up through the supply chain and on store shelves.