The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Michele Buck: Yes. I mean I think it helps us in terms of household penetration because we are still in the process of building the household penetration on that brand. Frankly, the business is quite big given the relatively nascent household distribution. So Club is always a great venue to get that. And we continue to have some distribution opportunity on the Pretzel business overall. So we continue to be excited by that and excited that the velocities have held up pretty well despite those increases in distribution. And we also have some opportunities for select innovation. We introduced Cinnamon Sugar, which has been a great hit in the marketplace as well.

Jim Salera: Great. And then maybe if you can offer some commentary just given that Dot’s seems to be insulated from some of the demand elasticity that maybe we’ve seen in some of the other more premium Salty offerings. What is it about Dot’s? Is it just their core kind of consumer is higher income or they just have a really on-trend offering? What is it that seems that they’ve been able to be insulated compared to some of the other more premium Salty offerings?

Michele Buck: Yes. I mean I think one of the biggest things we’ve seen from our consumer work is the society of the category. It’s a very satiating snack. It’s very filling. And therefore, even though it is a premium product and some of the price points are high, it delivers on that value equation with very strong society. And I would say it certainly is a very differentiated product.

Jim Salera: Great. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back over to Ms. Melissa Poole for closing comments.

Melissa Poole: Thank you all so much for joining us this morning, and we look forward to catching up with you in the coming days and weeks. Have a great rest of your day.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.