Hershey Food Sale *is* relavent to HERSHEYPARK

Personally, I think the best solution would be for the Hershey Trust to work out some kind of deal to spin Hershey Foods off into its own entity. It would take longer, because it's unlikely that anybody in Hershey has the kind of money it would take to buy the company outright. But rather than selling off to a rival company it would make a whole lot more sense for Hershey Foods to find a way to buy itself out of the trust. That would get the Trust out of the chocolate business, which is ostensibly what it wants, and it would keep Hershey Foods in Hershey where it belongs, which should make everybody else happy. But there has to be a reason such a proposal hasn't yet been floated.....

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Early on Hershey Foods was floating the idea of "buying itself" from the Trust and operating by itself. However, that idea seems to have disappeared. Not trying to sound cynical (I don't have to try... it just comes natural for me), but somehow I think the reported 11-12 billion $ price tag that Nestle (and the rest) were quoting may have had alot to do with that proposal by Hershey Foods to "dissapear".

Now this brings up another question... WHY does a school that has an enrollment of around 1200 need to sell off the biggest candy company in the US for at least 10billion$ to protect its "students" incase the market would fall. Why not simply sell some of the stock (but keep enough to hold controlling interest) and diversify?

Hershey did try to deversify in the 1980's I believe by going into the hotel business (aside from the famed Hotel Hershey). However, it was later decided that in the wake of these less than stellar deals it was best to concentrate locally in the Hershey area and do what it does best... make candy and operate Hershey Entertainment and Resorts. For a time, they even had some sort of management agreement with Lake Compounce in CT... before getting out and later having Kennywood step in.

Now suddenly, in the name of Diversifying their assets, the Trust wants to sell its biggest profit maker while qouting that "in the long term, if the industry falters, we may be hurt?" Doesn't make sense.

Hershey PA's 2 main "industries" are Chocolate and tourism. The tourism, while not directly connected to the chocolate, is indirectly connected to it. IF the sale goes through and the chocolate goes bye bye, in the long term, the tourism could (will?) also suffer. By selling off their biggest asset in order to diversify their interests for "the good of the students of the school", it is my opinion (and the opinion of most others around the local area) that the Trust is in effect shooting itself in the foot. Short term, there is money to be made. Long term... if the Chocolate goes and the tourism $ start to drop as a result, they could be in for some long range problems.

Interesting note: Until the current board of the Trust, most (if not all) of the Trust board members were local to the central PA region and, in turn, had a stake in the region. Now I think they say all but 4 are local. The rest are from all around the country. Is there a commitment to the local region? Or is there a commitment to their wallets? (okay... editorializing, but hey, why not?)

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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 9/5/2002. ***

I think that the main repercusion that will happen on the park with be bad PR by assoication. Even if the a small portion of the population works for Hershey Foods, the identity of the region is tied to the Food Co. The closing of the factory will leave a huge negative with the GP. I would assume that a large percent of the attendance of Hershey Park is from locals within a 2 hour drive. Any negative fallout from the closing of the factory will spill over to the Park. Granted this probably will only be temporary but it still could take years to recover.

The town of Hershey really does not exist. It is all derry Township. To everyone who traveled there, and to all Central Pa residents, it is know as Hershey. I can't think of it ever being called Nestle, Pa. The public buildings that are along Chocolate amd Cocoa Ave.'s were built with funds on land donated by Milton Hershey himself. While the Arena, Stadium, and former Pool are inside park grounds, the other buildings such as the Civic Hall are owned by Derry Township.

The land the Chocolate World sits on is owned by the Trust, as is the park. It is #2 visited corporate center behind the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta. That building out grosses most mid sized parks in America. It is foolish to dismiss the significance of the property. Hershey Entertainment is capable of operating the food court, the retail, and the attractions quite easily. The Trust will not let a 'less than stellar' operation at the entrance to Hersheypark.

Agent Johnson: You know... I had forgotten about that. The old local story is that if you live in Hershey, "Hershey owns the land, you own the building." Not sure how that applies to personal property (homes), but I remember now that it applies to the properties you mentioned.

So, what is your educated guess (much more than most on this baord) as to what the implications of the current sutiation will be on the park?

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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"

The Trust owns dozens of large homes that border the factory areas. They were built to attract the newly hired managers that were brought to the area to help manage the growing Chocolate Empire. It is certain that they would stay. They are now rental units for couples and families. The Trust owns more than enough land to prevent any 'wrong' developent next to the school or the park.

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coasterpunk said:
OH NO! I hope it doesn't change the Hershey Bears! It would just sound silly the Nestle or Cadbury Bears!

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Visits to Knoebels in 2002: 10

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I went to High School in a town with a Nestle plant. Our HS mascot was the "Demons." For years, they had been trying to change it. I think the closest they ever came was with the proposal "Morsels" in "honor" of the Nestle plant. Can you imagine a high school with a mascot of a chocolate chip? Not only does that sound rediculous, but imagine what it would look like from a distance.

I'll leave your imaginations to run wild now!

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"Getting on Iron Wolf is kind of like going in a blender and pressing PUREE"

--Ever lying in wait for someone to say something stupid.

I heard on the radio the other day that a judge stepped and put an injunction against the sale of Hershey Chocolates for now. I guess they won't be sold just yet!

A short while later I heard an anti-sale group with adds on the raido and heard about this site: http://www.friendsofhershey.org/

I have a feeling that this may get pretty ugly before too long.

On a side note I was working at the one Chocolate plant yesterday and today. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to talk to any of the employees to get their thoughts about this whole mess. No free chocolate either but I got to smell it most of the day! :)

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Visits to Knoebels in 2002: 10

Way off topic... but... in response to Du8die's last post:

On the scoreboards at Bears games (at least in the past at the Hersheypark Arena), the word "Bears" and what ever the opponent's team name was appeared (or an appreviation there of) It was BEARS and PHANTOMS, BEARS and PENS, BEARS and ADMIRALS, etc.

Only when a certain team visited did they put the name of the city up, and not the name of the team... BEARS and SYRACUSE. The team from Syracuse NY is called the Syracuse Crunch. Popular talk was that they did not like the idea of giving Nestle's free advertising by haveing BEARS and CRUNCH up on the boards. (again, this was only what the "popular talk" with the fans was... not sure what the official reason was).

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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"

The way it sounds, at the present, nothing is really relavant.

The news this morning is that the Hershey Trust has changed its mind and has withdrawn the offer to sell Hershey Foods.

Local radio reports that the most recent offer was from Wrigley's and included a "promise" to keep the plant operating in Hershey.

Reports are that the Trust will look into other ways to diversify its holdings including some stock sales etc. They said they were totally taken by surprise by the reaction of the locals to the sale. As the radio report stated, that doesn't mean that at some point in the future a sale will not be looked for again (of course any business could face that).

Ironic. Looking at the Roll Back data base, it says that 100 years ago today Milton Hershey bought the first tracts of land of what was to become Hershey.

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Kind of hard to take a post as objective if a park or coaster name is part of the "user name"

When Con Agra bought Knotts Berry Farm's foods division, you didn't see the boysenberry, the jam shops, or the shortbreak cookies leave, did you? If Nestle were to buy Hershey foods, yet keep the Hershey brand name (like was done with Knotts fods), and Nestle is suppostive in supplying Hershey park with characters and chocolate, i believe nothing at the park will change.

Being a local from the Harrisburg area I am really happy to see that they have decided not to sell. I must admit that I would have supported a Kraft takeover. They would have kept the jobs here had they taken it over.

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Ironic. Looking at the Roll Back data base, it says that 100 years ago today Milton Hershey bought the first tracts of land of what was to become Hershey.

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Hah, nice catch.

I'm glad this isn't happening [news]. Hershey is too valuable... ~10B. Jeez.

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The Jet Coaster ROARS!
Will Johansson, Webmaster of Xtreme Paramount Parks
http://xpp.coasterbuzz.com/

This story was on Network news tonight which I thought was pretty cool. They barely mentioned the amusement park, but at least they aren't selling.

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LocoBazooka--Sevendust, Nonpoint, Stereo Vent, Mushroomhead
Korn Tour (With no name)--Korn, Puddle of Mudd, Deadsy

A handful of stockholders made a ****load of money when the stock went up. I would love to see who dumped off loads of shares through a 3rd party transaction. I would love to find out.

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"Every Man Has Got to Know His Limitations"