The U.S. consumer is in good shape, Michele Buck, chief executive officer at The Hershey Company, said on Wednesday, becoming the second CEO in as many days to tell CNBC that Americans remain confident in the economy.
“We feel good about where the consumer is in the U.S.,” she said.
Buck’s appraisal echoes that of Target CEO Brian Cornell who told CNBC he stands by his August comments that the consumer environment may be the “strongest I’ve seen in my career.”
Cornell told CNBC’s Courtney Reagan on Tuesday that people are feeling good because “they’re seeing wages rise.”
Unlike retail, Buck said on “Squawk Box” that food companies, like Hershey, “don’t see as quite as many peaks and valleys because people need to consume food.”
Buck didn’t want to talk much about business at Hershey ahead of Thursday’s third-quarter earnings release.
She did say, “I am so thrilled about the progress we are making at Hershey on our strategic agenda.”
“In the past several months and through the year, we’ve seen sequential improvement in our retail takeaway behind a very strong Halloween season,” he added.
In regards to selling to younger buyers, Buck said Hershey’s legacy brands are “outpacing the category growth by double in the past three years.”
Further investment in digital commerce has also helped drive business, Buck said, adding that recent acquisitions should continue to boost growth.
“We feel really good about our acquisition to meet additional consumer snacking occasions with Skinny Pop, which is growing very strongly this year, and the addition of Pirate’s Booty to our portfolio,” she said.
