Hershey Buys Ripple Brand Collective For Undisclosed Terms

Hershey Company HSY has acquired Ripple Brand Collective, LLC, a privately held company for undisclosed terms and conditions. The private company was based in Congers, New York, owning the barkTHINS snacking chocolate brand.

The company's President for North America, Michele Buck, said "This acquisition is a great addition to our Hershey chocolate portfolio and enables us to expand our mass premium offerings into this growing and on-trend category. Since its launch in 2013, barkTHINS has quickly become a favorite snack brand due to its commitment to using simple ingredients, fair trade cocoa, non-GMO certification, and no artificial flavors or preservatives."

He continued, "barkTHINS is a very attractive and uniquely crafted brand that essentially created a new form of chocolate snacking. Made with high-quality dark chocolate, nuts and other ingredients, barkTHINS addresses key consumer trends, such as premium, high quality ingredients and snacking. We look forward to building barkTHINS by leveraging Hershey's scale at retail."

Hershey said the barkTHINS brand was mainly sold in the America in take-home resealable packages and was available in the club channel, as well as select natural and conventional grocers. The company added that its annual net sales were expected to be in the $65 to $75 million range for the current year.

Ripple Brand CEO, Scott Semel, concluded, "We're proud of the rapid development of the brand since our launch in 2013 and look forward to the next phase of accelerated growth that Hershey can provide. Our unique proposition, brand equity, and outstanding team give us confidence that there is tremendous upside for barkTHINS with a confectionery leader like Hershey."