Top 10: Hershey's acquisition of Pirate Brands, Kroger's Wis. plans, consumers' favorite eateries - SmartBrief

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Top 10: Hershey’s acquisition of Pirate Brands, Kroger’s Wis. plans, consumers’ favorite eateries

News of Hershey's acquisition of Pirate Brands struck a chord with readers this week, as did stories from Kroger and Chick-fil-A.

2 min read

By Torrey Kim 09/20/18

Food

Hershey acquires Pirate Brands

SmartBrief

The news that Hershey plans to acquire Pirate Brands for $420 million topped the list of most-read food and beverage stories this week. The acquisition will bring snack brands including Pirate’s Booty and Smart Puffs to Hershey’s growing snack portfolio. CPG readers were also drawn to the news that Cheerios and M&M’s ranked among Walmart’s list of best-selling items by state, and Tyson Foods’ announcement that CEO Tom Hayes would be leaving the company.

Restaurant readers were interested in a story about Chick-fil-A’s ranking as consumers’ favorite chicken chain, based on a brand survey from The Harris Poll. The results ranked Five Guys as the top burger chain, with Panera Bread and Subway coming in at the top of the sandwich category. Also in foodservice news, a list of the healthiest US schools based on data from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation rated high with readers.

In grocery retail news, Kroger’s plan to consolidate the management of its Wis. Roundy’s and Mariano’s stores under a single Milwaukee-based leadership team rated with readers. Also garnering interest were stories from Aldi and Amazon Go. Check out the full list of this week’s 10 most popular food and beverage stories from SmartBrief:

  1. Hershey to pay $420M for Pirate Brands 
  2. Walmart’s list of top-selling items by state includes Cheerios, M&M’s 
  3. Hayes departing Tyson Foods, White to take CEO role 
  4. Kroger brings 2 Wis. banners under one leadership team 
  5. Group releases list of healthiest US schools 
  6. Poll: Chick-fil-A, Five Guys, Taco Bell win with consumers 
  7. Instagram-famous drink brand Dirty Lemon opens unstaffed NYC retail store 
  8. Amazon Go set to open in Chicago 
  9. New Aldi ad invite customers to “Shop differentli” 
  10. Doritos, Oreos among Gen Z’s favorite brands 

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