Hershey’s US president set for unexpected business exit

Hershey’s US president, Andrew Archambault, is reportedly set to leave the business less than a month month after it was announced he would be taking on expanded leadership duties, writes Neill Barston.

The news emerged via a US securities and exchange commission document filed in Washington this week, in which it simply stated the senior executive would be leaving from the start of May, with a search for his replacement presently under way.

As Confectionery Production previously reported, Archambault, who had also previously worked for Dr Pepper drinks business, had been tasked at the end of last month with duties including overseeing commercial planning and execution, category leadership, customer relationships and retail execution.

His departure coincides with a particularly challenging period for Hershey, with the company facing navigating increased operating costs with the introduction of US tariffs, as well cocoa price volatility and weakened consumer demand in premium chocolate segments.

These combined factors are understood to have had an impact on the company’s decision to explore alternative ingredients for a limited amount of products within its portfolio which moved away from classic milk and dark chocolate recipes, including for some SKU’s of its Reese’s brand – which met with a consumer backlash.

This included an open letter to the business from Brad Reese, a grandson of Reese’s founder, H.B Reese, be mindful of its heritage in terms of preserving what had made the series a genuine hit in the first place. The subsequent story went on to gain global media coverage, as the business responded to state that it’s recent changes affected just 3% of its product range. 

Consequently, at a recent investor day in New York, the business confirmed that it now intended to return its full portfolio to using milk and dark chocolate by 2027.