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By Matthew Rees

Food and Health Fact #115: Hershey rolls out a mid-morning snack

Find all previously published facts here
Read my new MedPage Today article, co-authored with Dr. Vanita Rahman, on how restaurants contribute to obesity

Hershey, America’s largest confection company, is trying to gain market share by rolling out products designed for morning consumption. "We see this as a potential growth lever and way for us to potentially capture more total snacking occasions across all dayparts," Dan Mohnshine, the company’s head of strategic growth platforms, told Food Dive. (A Hershey survey in August 2020 revealed that 83 percent of consumers had eaten a dessert of some kind before noon in the previous month.) Last December, the company began selling Reese’s Snack Cakes, which it describes as “delicious soft baked chocolate cake topped with Reese’s Peanut Butter creme covered in smooth milk chocolate.” In a press release, the company declared, “Let’s face it, we’re already having morning dessert anyway, so the Reese’s brand decided to make it official. With new Reese’s Snack Cakes, Reese’s fans can enjoy a delicious combination of chocolate and peanut butter creme without having to wait until lunch.”

The Food Dive article summarized the views of a Hershey consumer insights leader: “people in the past traditionally viewed the morning as a time to focus on eating healthier and getting nutrients, with a greater permission to indulge later in the day. In recent years, consumer sentiment has started to change, with indulgent consumption playing more of a role earlier in the day.” This Hershey employee went on to declare, "More and more, there has been just the presence of sweeter types of snacks in the morning. We have brands that can play there, and so we felt like we had an opportunity to expand our occasions further."

The Hershey press release portrayed the company in heroic terms: “Now you can indulge in a Reese’s treat any time of day. Consider morning officially saved. #NotSorry”