Putting the ack in acquisitions
Hershey is buying Scharffen Berger. For those who don't know, Scharffen Berger is the Berkeley company that makes my very favorite chocolate. I used to not like dark chocolate at all, but after eating Scharffen Berger, I'm not so interested in milk chocolates any more.
This immediately reminded me of Coca-Cola acquiring Odwalla (which, iIrc, had previously bought Samantha) back in 2002. To be fair, I should note that I haven't seen a drop in the quality of Odwalla juices, which I still buy and enjoy regularly. I'm still kind of distressed, though, that the Odwalla website doesn't show any sign (that I can find) of the company being owned by Coke. Three years after the acquisition, the site still gives the impression that Odwalla is a little company owned and operated by People Who Care. It's really misleading.
(Huh—I just happened across a really damning article about Odwalla's handling of their E. coli incident back in 1996. I wouldn't take everything in that article at face value—the section quoting Milton Friedman as saying "There is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game" suggests to me that the article's author has a certain political agenda—but it's still a pretty sobering look at corporate misbehavior from a company whose image is bound up in being socially responsible.)
Anyway. Enough about Odwalla. My real point is that I will be very sad if Hershey makes any changes to Scharffen Berger, or if S.B. ends up compromising its quality standards in order to grow to fit a larger market. On the plus side, I suppose this news means that those of you in far-off benighted lands may yet get the chance to experience the glory of Scharffen Berger chocolate.
