Hershey to Build New Hometown Chocolate Plant

Nov. 15, 2022

The Hershey Co. has announced plans to build a new, 250,000-sq.-ft. chocolate processing facility in its hometown of Hershey, Pa.

Pan Demetrakakes

The Hershey Co. has announced plans to build a new, 250,000-sq.-ft. chocolate processing facility in its hometown of Hershey, Pa.

The new plant will produce candy under the Hershey, Kit-Kat and Reese’s name, and will be located on 55 company-owned acres near Hershey’s existing Reese’s plant.

A cost figure was not given, but the new plant is part of improvements to Hershey’s overall production and supply-chain capacity that will end up costing more than $1 billion. That project will also include 10 new production lines in existing facilities, upgrades to 13 more, and three new distribution centers. The new facility is expected to become operational in early 2024.

“We’ve made significant investments over the past few years with new facilities and updates to existing sites to speed production and make more of the iconic brands consumers love,” Will Bonifant, vice president for Hershey’s North American supply chain, said in a press release.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.