--- title: Hershey bets on salty snacks to shake things up - The Hustle description: When you have to buy two popcorn plants to keep up with demand, you know you’re doing something right. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/39404057-Herseys-v2.webp --- # Hershey bets on salty snacks to shake things up ![Jacob Cohen](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png?width=48&height=48&name=IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png) [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen) [Jacob Cohen Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/ImJacobCohen) Published: June 03, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 We’re gonna go ahead and take a wild guess that salt is not the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “The Hershey Company.” ![Hershey bets on salty snacks to shake things up](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/39404057-Herseys-v2.webp?width=595&height=400&name=39404057-Herseys-v2.webp) And yet, the brand sprinkled more than a little into its latest [annual report](https://hershey.gcs-web.com/node/29071/html), with the word “salty” appearing 51 times compared to chocolate’s 52. All these mentions, in reference to Hershey’s Salty Snacks segment, underline how seriously the company is taking its stated vision of being “a leading snacking powerhouse” and growing its share of the [$36B](https://www.fooddive.com/news/hershey-buys-2-popcorn-plants-to-fuel-growth-of-its-skinnypop-brand/647476/) market. #### **Salting away cash** Its Confectionery segment — including top-selling Reese’s — is still the company’s bread and (peanut) butter, but Hershey’s snacks division Salty Snacks now represents a $1B+ business line of its own. The division — which includes treats like Pirate’s Booty and SkinnyPop — accounts for ~10% of the company’s sales, up from 5.4% in 2020. Leadership is hoping to take it to ~20% this decade, per *Food Dive*. Much of this growth has come through snackquisitons — first of Amplify, SkinnyPop’s parent company, for [$1.6B](https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2017/12/18/1263249/0/en/Hershey-Enters-Into-Agreement-to-Acquire-Amplify-Snack-Brands-Inc.html) back in 2017, and second, of Dot’s Pretzels, for [$1.2B](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hershey-completes-acquisition-of-dots-pretzels-and-pretzels-inc-301444471.html) in 2021. These investments appear to be twisting into big profits, with Hershey stock up 13%+ in the past year, compared to the S&P 500’s -6%. #### **What’s next?** SkinnyPop has been a standout for Hershey — now nearing $550m in annual sales, up from $200m pre-acquisition. To support this growth, earlier this week Hershey addressed the ever-relatable struggle of not having one’s own popcorn manufacturing facilities… by [purchasing](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hershey-to-acquire-two-manufacturing-facilities-from-weaver-popcorn-manufacturing-301798022.html) two of them. Topics: [Food](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/food) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp) ### Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue - ![Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/908447747-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-dippindots_20231002233115.webp) ### Think your industry is weird? 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