New Hershey Company facility will employ more than 100 additional workers

The Hershey Company has marked the opening of their first new plant in its namesake community in more than three decades.

One of the world’s largest candymakers, the company is based in Hershey, Dauphin County. 

Several Pennsylvania elected officials were on hand Wednesday for the facility’s ribbon-cutting. Gov. Josh Shapiro lauded the Hershey Company as one of Pennsylvania’s great manufacturers.

“I think it is particularly good and meaningful for me to be here today, given the events of this past weekend, to celebrate the growth of this iconic company,” Shapiro said. “I know it’s easy to look at the world and see the people who are trying to tear things down. Today we’re here to celebrate a great company that is building things up and creating dreams and opportunity for so many people.”

Michele Buck, President and CEO of the Hershey Company, said the processing plant is the first new manufacturing facility constructed in Derry Township, outside Hershey, in more than 30 years. She also said it is the company’s  first fully digital integrated manufacturing facility with “high levels of automation, exemplifying the next step in our digital manufacturing roadmap.”

Shapiro said the new facility is going to create 125 new jobs in the state and thanked the company for having a “huge reach” from the farmlands to the corporate centers and beyond in Pennsylvania.

“It’s true that Hershey could have chosen to be anywhere for this new facility, but instead, they chose to invest a billion dollars to expand their footprint right here at home in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “That is a big deal. It is a point of pride for us, and we are grateful that you have doubled down on your commitment to Pennsylvania.”

“We’re very, very grateful for the jobs, for the commitment to this community and to this effort and to Milton Hershey’s legacy, which was not only about chocolate, but was about community, about philanthropy, about doing good for our community,” U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-10th District), who represents Hershey.

State Sen. Patty Kim (D-15th District) and state Rep. Tom Mehaffie (R-106th District) represent Hershey in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and were also on hand for the new facility’s opening.