Quinn CEO on Hershey Deal: ‘It Fuels the Spirit of Quinn’

Ten years after launching, Quinn Snacks has a sweet new partner: The Hershey Company, which announced a minority investment in the snack company last week. Hershey will provide the brand with both strategic advice as well as capital, CEO and founder Kristy Lewis said.

Exact financial terms around the deal and whether it includes an option for Hershey to eventually buy out the smaller company were not disclosed. Lewis met the Hershey’s team through an existing, previous investor. The strategic was part of the company’s Series D round funding, which was expanded to accommodate the new investor, and came in following the company’s prior August announcement of $3 million in funding.

In an interesting twist, Quinn now counts two salty snack strategics among its investors — Hershey’s joined the investment arm of the Lissette family (the owners of Utz Quality Foods) in backing the pretzel and popcorn company. For Quinn, the experience The Hershey Company has had with natural snack brands via their Amplify division, such as Pirate’s Booty, Skinny Pop and Paqui, demonstrated an awareness and commitment to the category.

Lewis said she was particularly interested in partnering with Hershey because the company, like her own, is led by a female CEO. Though Quinn is a snack brand, Lewis has bigger hopes of changing how Americans eat and how the country’s food is grown. She said she also hopes she can influence the bigger company’s views of its own agriculture programs.

“A lot of these larger companies are looking at the little guys, Quinn being one of them, and really trying to pay attention to what we’re doing and how we’re doing good,” Lewis said. “The fact that we can be transparent about our Be Better Do Better mission and have a large CPG company like Hershey want to be a part of that, sends a clear message in our industry

Despite the investment, she said, it’s “business as usual.” Quinn will put the money behind new distribution and innovation plans. The new partnership will provide Quinn with access to research and advice as needed, but the cadence of that discussion and what it entails will be driven by the Quinn team.

Above all else, Lewis said, the interest from Hershey’s has further cemented her own belief in the brand. Noting that raising capital has been a “slog” at times, Lewis said that for every one cheerleader of the business, there’ve been far more naysayers. Now, she said, with Hershey’s involved, there’s even more proof that the company has been on the right track.

“It’s just humbling to go through this process,” Lewis said. “It’s exciting when someone really understands or tries to get what you’ve been trying to build for the last ten years. It fuels the spirit of Quinn.”