HERSHEY SELLS OFF FOUR BRANDS IN CANADA
By Adnews Staff
Hershey Canada is getting out of the salty snack business and has sold off three of its candy brands. The company has sold its Planters nut business to Johnvince Foods Group of Toronto. Its Life Savers, Breath Savers and Beechnut cough drops have been bought by Beta Brands of Toronto. Both deals are expected to close Jan. 3. Neither Johnvince nor Beta do advertising. DDB Needham Worldwide of Toronto handles advertising for all the Hershey brands being sold. Johnvince, which owns shares in Beta, was unavailable yesterday to comment on how advertising will be handled under the new ownership. Hershey sold Planters because it was the company's only entry in the salty snack category, which made competing in this market difficult. U.S.-based Hershey is concentrating on brands that it can market around the world. Life Savers, Breath Savers and Beechnut don't fit in with this policy because Hershey only has the rights to these products in Canada. Johnvince is a diversified food processor specializing in nuts, dried fruit and snacks. Beta sells bulk chocolate to stores and makes private label chocolates, including President's Choice for Loblaw's stores and Master Choice for A&P.