I like this take from James Freeman of The Wall Street Journal, who highlights CEO Michele Buck, for noticing that Americans still like tasty snacks. Freeman writes:
This column doesn’t make stock calls. This column is not irrationally exuberant about the market for sweet packaged snacks given the frequency at which Americans are told to stop eating sugar and to stop eating processed food and to stop snacking.
Still, it’s worth remembering that not every consumer is craving locally grown, organic quinoa. And there seems to be at least one CEO in the food industry who understands that Americans aren’t always willing to eat as instructed.
The Journal reports:
Hershey Co. Chief Executive Michele Buck said the company aims to strike “more balance” between its longstanding candy businesses and the healthier snack operations it has been building up via acquisitions.
Consumers talk a big game when it comes to eating healthy, but Ms. Buck said the company’s candy business isn’t going anywhere, and in many cases remains bigger than the healthier offerings.
“Consumers don’t always do what they say they are going to do,” she said.
And they don’t always do what they’re told. Ms. Buck is no doubt aware of the fortune that private equity investor Dean Metropoulos has made reviving non-trendy brands like Twinkies and Pabst Blue Ribbon and investing in savory snacks like Utz potato chips, even if such products are not necessarily celebrated by public-health experts.
What would we do without experts? Many consumers might simply enjoy favorite indulgences in moderation.
Read more here.
