chocolate: B'ars and Bars and Bears
- 10/29/07 06:10 AM
It's October 29 and hockey season is already 3 weeks old. I guess the warm temperatures don't matter to true hockey fans. Central Pennsylvania has it's own hockey tradition, the Hershey Bears have been a part of the American Hockey League since 1936 and have earned eight Calder Cup trophies in the last 70 years, including the 2005-2006 season. They play now in the new Giant Center, but played for almost 70 years in the venerable HersheyPark Arena built in 1936. That has been the site of lot of memories, including Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point performance for the Philadelphia Warriors back in the 60's. While … (1 comments)
chocolate: Management Shakeup in Hometown Hershey
- 10/03/07 06:38 AM
I wrote quite a few blog posts last Winter and Spring about the Hershey Company's decision to cut jobs in the US and Canada in order to move them to Mexico. My articles mostly outlined my view that the company, in spite of the founder's desire to keep Hershey as a thriving community, was tearing apart the basic fabric of town and trampling on Mr. Hershey's Dream. And the object of my scorn was Richard Lenny (who I often refer to as Squiggy's partner in crime) who was the top manager (CEO) at Hershey. Well, lo and behold, late Monday the Hershey Company … (0 comments)
chocolate: The 4th Annual Hershey Soup Cook-Off
- 09/27/07 06:28 AM
The 4th annual Hershey Soup Cook-off is happening this Saturday morning starting at 11AM at the Hershey Fire Company building located at 21 West Caracas Avenue, almost across the street from the "old" Hershey factory in the heart of town. The logo at top left is a hot link to the Soup Cook-Off website. Last year, over 40 amateur and professional cooks entered their favorite soup recipes in the contest. This is a fund raising event for the Hershey Partnership in co-operation with the Hershey Fire Department. There's plenty of free parking right in the immediate area (On East and West Caracas and across … (0 comments)
chocolate: Local Restaurants in Hershey
- 07/26/07 05:42 AM
There are quite a few fine locally owned and operated restaurants here is Hershey that offer good value and fine dining: The Campbelltown Cafe is located on US Rte 322 (Governor Road) about 3 miles east of town. Even though it's named for a nearby town, it actually is here in Derry Township. The restaurant is open from 7AM to 8PM weekdays and 9PM weekends. For dinner, all entrees are priced below $20 and the food is terrific. Fire Alley is located at 1144 Cocoa Avenue (Rte 743) about a mile or so south of the center of town. The restaurant is open 11:30 AM to … (1 comments)
chocolate: Hershey Kisses - The 100th Anniversary
- 07/08/07 01:11 AM
July 7, 1907 was the introductory date of the famous Hershey Kiss. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of this Hershey Kiss, the Hershey Company had a 12 foot tall Hershey Kiss manufactured and it was unveiled yesterday at Hershey's Chocolate World. This giant candy weighs over 30,000 pounds, is 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide. There was a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records present for the entire manufacturing process. The giant Hershey Kiss will be on display only until this Thursday (July12). The company has a slide show of the making of this product at KissSomeOne.com as well as … (9 comments)
chocolate: The Unique Streetlights of Hershey
- 04/30/07 01:31 AM
I think everyone just takes municipal lighting of our streets for granted. In an effort to make Hershey different and bring attention to the main business here in Chocolatetown, the street lights locally take on a whole new look:
Many years ago the street lights were changed to reflect the look of the wrapped and unwrapped Hershey Kiss. These extend from the intersection of West Chocolate and US 422 to Mansion Road on US 422, the main street in Hershey. Next time your visit Hershey, be sure to look up at the streetlights.
… (2 comments)
chocolate: Hershey Job Losses - Part 5
- 04/26/07 07:22 AM
After a week or so the Hershey Company announced a new round of plant closing and job cuts. Chairman and CEO Richard Lenny (that's Lenny, not Squiggy) announced: Hershey is closing the factory in nearby Reading Pennsylvania which will mean about 250 jobs will be eliminated. Then this week, they announced a closing of a factory in Naugatuck Connecticut with about another 250 or so job losses. Both of these plants were part of acquisitions from the 1980's. So far, by my estimated counts: Hershey -- 1250 job cutbacks Smith Falls Ontario -- 500 job cutbacks Reading, PA -- 250 job cutbacks Naugatuck, CT -- 250 … (0 comments)
chocolate: Job Losses in Hershey - Part 4
- 04/08/07 04:24 AM
Well the top management of Hershey Company has spoken, it just took them 2 weeks to speak all of the words. The week of March 25 they announced at the two Hershey plants that they anticipated that they would eliminate about 650 jobs that are union jobs. On Friday, they announced an addition 250 to 300 job cuts at the H.B. Reese plant (Peanut Butter Cups) which is non-union. The company tried to soften this by saying they would offer early retirement and severance packages but the sheer number is probably 40% of the manufacturing positions at the three operations. The "old" plant at … (0 comments)
chocolate: Update #3 on Hershey Job Loss
- 03/27/07 05:06 AM
Well, they came up with some numbers the last couple of days. The plan is that there will be about 650 manufacturing job cuts spread between the 3 manufacturing plants here in town. Since two of the plants are unionized, there will be voting on Thursday & Friday by the union membership about accepting the company's offer in regards to wages and benefits in exchange for allowing the company to cut the workforce. The company is putting on the "most losses will be from retirement and normal attrition" spin on the whole process. Most employees are not really confident that it will … (2 comments)
chocolate: Update #2 on Hershey Job Losses
- 03/18/07 01:51 AM
There hasn't been a lot of progress or good news since the last update. There was a meeting scheduled for Friday the 16th between the union local and management but it was cancelled due to the snowstorm. It is rescheduled for next week. There was a telling article in the Harrisburg Patriot News on Saturday that the top management did not earn their 2006 bonuses because the company did not meet it projected sales and profit growth figures that triggered the bonus. Yeh, it seems Mr. Lenny, the CEO, will have to live on $1.5 million or so in 2007. The newest ad slogan … (1 comments)
chocolate: Anger Levels Rise in Hershey
- 03/04/07 04:06 AM
There is an increased level of anger locally over the announcement by the Hershey Company that there may be job losses in manufacturing and perhaps other segments in the company business locally. There was a rally yesterday attended by over 200 people in support of the workers and insupport of retaining these jobs locally. Among those in attendance was a Dauphin County commissioner as well as several local government elected officials. The company was not represented. Here is a link to one article: http://tinyurl.com/246k26 One interesting attendee is not mentioned in the article. The daughter of H.B. Reese attended to support keeping manufacturing locally with … (0 comments)
Hershey Foods finally announced the expected yesterday, the plan to close their plant in Ontario early in 2008 and will make additional job cuts within 2 years. Since about 500 jobs will be lost in Canada, it is anticipated that most of the remaining 2500 job losses will be in the US, with a large percentage here in Hershey.
I wrote last week about this http://tinyurl.com/268vur and then had a follow up on Monday http://tinyurl.com/22gvmv .
The mood locally about these possibilities is quiet and even best described as somber. The … (1 comments)
chocolate: Layoffs Come to Hershey?
- 02/16/07 09:45 PM
On Thursday, the Hershey Company announced they are building a new plant in Mexico and will be closing some US based plants and laying off about 1500 workers. On Friday that changed to possibly 3000 workers. There has been no formal declaration that any of these will be here locally, but since the "original" plant on East Chocolate Avenue is very old, and the workers are unionized, the local speculation is that many of the layoffs will happen here. Hershey also operates two other plant in town, the Reese's plant on Rte 422 west of downtown and the so called "west" plant … (5 comments)
chocolate: Chocolate Covered February
- 01/24/07 12:41 AM
February is typically a very slow month for the tourism side of living in Hershey. People don't travel because of the fear of winter storms and the cold weather mitigates attendance for an outdoor event. To add some tourism dollars to the local economy, the Hershey Entertainment are has proclaimed next month as Chocolate Covered February with events every day of the month. Some of the possibilities are: Chocolate Spa Treatment Chocolate Inspired Breakfast and Lunch Buffets at the Motor Lodge Chocolate Dessert Sampling at Chocolate World And Chocolate Dinner Extraordinaire at the Hotel Hershey on February 2 See Menu That one is marked sold out. There's always something going … (1 comments)
chocolate: The Hershey Partnership
- 01/18/07 05:50 AM
Since the Hershey area has a lot of tourist type attractions, the Hershey Partnership was formed many years ago as a means for local businesses to promote their business to vistors and to cement their relationship within the local economy. The partnership publishes 'Your Guide to Chocolatetown' every spring and publishes a tourist map called 'Chocolate and More". The aim is to make Hershey a year round destination. To promote the businesses that serve local residents, the Partnership sponsors several local events and fundraisers. We are proud members of The Hershey Partnership … (1 comments)
chocolate: A One Hundred Year Old Kiss
- 01/13/07 11:46 PM
The Hershey Kiss was first made in 1907, so this is the One Hundreth Anniversary of this little product. To commemorate, the United States Postal Service has issued a special commemorative stamp. See the announcement here Hershey has promoted Hershey's Kisses with This Vehicle for a number of years Be sure to celebrate your special days in 2007 with a kiss with someone you love.
It's October 29 and hockey season is already 3 weeks old. I guess the warm temperatures don't matter to true hockey fans.
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