Yikes! Hershey Co. Buying Scharffen Berger
Tuesday, July 26, 2005 9:47
…spotted this story on the wire and for chocoholics like me the news is a little unsettling. But perhaps the acquisition bodes well for other artisanal chocolate makers. One thing is certain: Hershey Co. has finally recognized the taste and health benefits of high-cacao content.
The company has agreed to acquire premium dark chocolate manufacturer Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Inc. for an undisclosed sum.
Based in Berkeley, Calif., Scharffen Berger is known for its high-cacao content, signature dark chocolate bars and baking products sold online and at specialty retailers. Scharffen Berger also owns and operates three specialty stores in New York, Berkeley, and San Francisco.“The premium chocolate segment represents a strategic opportunity for Hershey based on increasing consumer demand for distinctive, high-end chocolate and for the antioxidant benefits of dark chocolate,” said Richard H. Lenny, chairman, president and chief executive, in a statement.
Full story, link.
I know I like my cacao content high so with any luck the antioxidant craze will trickle down to the Hershey Kisses in my office vending machine and the Hershey’s Syrup next to the espresso machine at the Coffee Table too.
MaxMillion says:
July 26th, 2005 at 5:48 pm
OH NOOOOOOOOOOO!
Hershey’s is far and away the *worst* chocolate I have ever had the misfortune to taste. Sorry, but I really mean that. This is dismal news. If anyone has ever had Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (a good, everyday kind that’s fantastic when dipped in hot coffee!!) either in the UK, Canada or Australia, then they’ll know what I mean. Hershey’s “do” Cadburys here and it’s VILE! I don’t even understand why Cadbury’s let them put out such inferior choc with their name on it, but I’ll bet they’re banking on “American’s having different tastes” or some such rubbish. >:(
cybele says:
July 26th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
I like Hershey’s, I like Sharffen Berger, I like Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, I like Sees, I like Wilbur, I like M&Ms, Ghiradelli, Lindt … There are few chocolates I’ve met that I didn’t like.
Hershey pretty much established America’s chocolate tastes single-handedly. He created the affordable consumer chocolate bar at a time when “candy” was king and regular folks couldn’t afford chocolate regularly. He took care to control his entire supply chain, even owning his own sugar plantations in Cuba (hell, a whole town), his own dairies in Pennsylvania (and buying plenty of other milk from the local farmers) and making long-term deals for his raw cocoa beans. He developed his recipe for milk chocolate through trial and error (no one in Europe would help him).
Hershey owns lots of other candy companies, they don’t buy competitors so much as just amass different kinds of candy (twizzlers, jolly ranchers, breathsavers, reese’s, peter paul, york). I think they’d see the distinction between the 70% movement and the normal consumer chocolate.
I think of chocolate like cheese or wine, there’s a lot of room for variation in the different forumlas in the world. Hershey kind of reminds me of yogurt (there’s a sour tinge to it) and European Cadbury reminds me of powdered milk. I suspect some of it might have to do with the differences in milk around the world as well as how they roast and blend their chocolate.
Nestle recently bought organic chocolatier Green & Blacks. I am very curious to see what’s going to happen there, I’d like to think that the organic and fair trade movement could work on a larger scale such as with Nestle, but I’m probably dreaming.
SoCalorie says:
July 26th, 2005 at 10:05 pm
The populist chocolate sermon, amen. Believe me, I am happy to worship at the chocolate altar, but especially when the preaching revolves around the new golden rule of high cacoa percentages.
Hershey definitely recognizes the 70% distinction. It’s all about manufacturing low cost food for the masses which amounts to unadulterated cocoa content of 0%.
I suppose the Scharffen Berger purchase is a luxury brand burnishing effort, much like Ford buying Astin Martin, and similar to Robert Mondavi making Opus One (”a proprietary Bordeaux-style blend”).
As you point out, in the case of Nestle buying Green & Blacks, Hershey buying Scharffen Berger also helps burnish the corporation’s environmental/organic/fair trade credentials, at leasst in the short term. But will it have any impact on corporate buying/manufacturing practices? More than likely it will only augment empty marketing promises.
And I can understand having a sense of nostalgia about Hershey establishing America’s chocolate tastes, some might say it’s a dubious legacy, but today the stuff is mass produced cocoa flavored vegetable oil.
I was reading a surprising (to me) consumer chocolate market report from ‘03 earlier and it indicated that Barry-Callebaut leads the market by 24%, followed by Nestle 21%, Mars 13%, Cadbury 12%, Kraft 10%, and Hershey 10%. (Lindt’s only 3%!)
You never know, maybe Mars is preparing to buy Valrhona. The ‘cocoa provides healthful antioxidants’ marketing hype has only just begun.
Have you tried See’s King Tut chocolates? I enjoy it when food items are produced for particular cultural events. Come to think of it, one of my fave releases is Hershey’s Mint X-Mas M&M’s.
MaxMillion says:
July 27th, 2005 at 10:11 am
Funny you should say that, Cybele — Cadbury’s Dairy Milk is made with a “glass and a half of full-cream [POWDERED] milk”. It’s not super top-quality, but it is a very smooth and sweet milk chocolate. My fondness for it probably stems from nostalgia, more than anything.
SoCalorie says:
August 11th, 2005 at 1:44 pm
A sort of interesting story in USA Today about gourmet chocolate market:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2005-08-11-sweet-usat_x.htm
Rob says:
December 7th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
I like Hershey’s, I like Sharffen Berger, I like Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, I like Sees, I like Wilbur, I like M&Ms, Ghiradelli, Lindt … There are few chocolates I’ve met that I didn’t like.
Are you female? :p
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