Hershey Creamery Company - Business Model

Business Model

Hershey Creamery is a family operated business, with each new generation raised to assume roles within the company hierarchy upon graduation of high school. As of 2009, George Holder is its president, while his younger brothers, Walter and Tom, are vice president of manufacturing and vice president of sales and marketing, respectively. The company has approximately 450 employees.

The company operates 22 distribution centers, which serve some 22,000 clients in 28 states across the eastern United States, with Florida, Illinois, and the Carolinas being its newest market areas after its 2005 expansion. Since 1996, management has focused on the company's main distribution center rather than expansion outside of existing footprint. In 2003, it shifted its focus to moving its operations from the Harrisburg area, which is flood-prone and landlocked, to the Lower Swatara area. It opened a distribution center there in 1998, and plans to shift its headquarters and production facilities there over the next five to ten years. Unlike other ice cream makers, Hershey Creamery maintains ownership over its delivery trucks, distribution centers and warehouses, a practice the Holder family feels is important to maintaining the traditions of the "private, conservative" company.

Sales are primarily derived from branded ice cream parlors, quick-serve restaurants, and the distribution of its pre-packaged items to convenience stores, food service operators such as schools, hospitals, prisons, military installations, sports stadiums, amusement parks, and assisted living centers. Pre-packaged items are also sold in regional supermarkets, but this accounts for a minority of the company's sales.