The heir to Reese’s chocolatier landed a huge win after waging war against Hershey for cheapening the brand’s classic products.
Brad Reese, 70, criticized Hershey for changing the recipes of certain products, which were said to have included significantly less chocolate.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have historically contained real milk or dark chocolate and peanut butter, but products have recently only been made with a coating with less chocolate.
On Wednesday, however, The Hershey Company announced that as of 2027 they would be shifting back to the ‘classic milk chocolate and dark chocolate recipes.’
Hershey said that it would improving its Kit Kat recipe for a ‘creamier chocolate’ taste,’ according to company spokesperson Allison Kleinfelter.
Kleinfelter also said the company would be ‘transitioning our sweet portfolio to colors from natural sources, and ensuring that all Hershey’s and Reese’s offerings are consistent with their brand’s classic milk and dark chocolate recipes,’ according to a statement to the Daily Mail.
‘Hershey is committed to making products consumers love and that means continually reviewing our recipes to meet evolving tastes and preferences,’ the statement said. ‘The core recipes for our Hershey’s chocolate bars and Reese’s peanut butter cups have not changed.’
The announcement followed intense criticism from Reese who wrote an open letter to Todd Scott, the manager, corporate brand and editorial for Hershey Co on February 14.
‘As someone who has spent this career shaping narratives, elevating reputations and stewarding brand meaning, you understand better than most that s tory only works when it is anchored in truth,’ Reese began.
Brad Reese, 70, criticized Hershey for changing the recipes of certain products, which were said to included significantly less chocolate
The Hershey Company said that it would be transitioning certain products back to their original recipes by 2027
The chocolatier heir asked how Hershey could continue to reflect Reese’s brand while ‘quietly replacing the very ingredients that built Reese’s trust in the first place?’
‘My grandfather, HB Reese, built Reese’s on a simple, enduring architecture: Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter. Not a flavor idea. Not a marketing construct. A real tangible product identity that consumers have trusted for a century.
‘But today, Reese’s identity is being rewritten, not by storytellers, but by formulation decisions that replace milk chocolate with compound coatings and Peanut Butter with peanut-butter-style cremes across multiple Reese’s products.’
Reese called on Scott to lean into his role and ‘shape the story the world heads,’ asking him to ‘continue to position Reese’s as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership.’
The chocolatier heir asked how Hershey could continue to reflect Reese’s brand while ‘quietly replacing the very ingredients that built Reese’s trust in the first place?’
‘This isn’t a supply chain question,’ Reese continued. ‘It’s a brand governance question.’
‘It’s about whether The Hershey Company’s corporate narrative is allowed to drift away from Reese’s product reality. It’s about whether consumers are being asked to believe a story that no longer matches what’s inside the Reese’s orange wrapper.’
Reese continued on to say that the Reese’s story was ‘diverging from what’s inside Reese’s products.’
‘And that divergence puts Reese’s and the legacy behind it at risk,’ he wrote.
Reese wrote an open letter to Todd Scott, the manager, corporate brand and editorial for Hershey Co, on February 14
‘As the grandson of the man who created Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, I’m not asking for nostalgia. I’m asking for alignment. For truth in Reese’s brand stewardship. For a corporate narrative from The Hershey Company that reflects the Reese’s product consumers are actually receiving.
‘Because if Reese’s is going to remain the emotional equity anchor of The Hershey Company, then the story cannot be stronger than the ingredients.’
Much of Hershey’s recipe changes came following the hiring of CEO Kirk Tanner in August, USA Today reported.
The company said its decision to restore products to their original recipes was prompted by a 25 increase in research and development to fund talent, technology and nutrition science, according to the statement.
Hershey, however, made it clear that most of the company’s Reese’s products, including Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and classic shapes, are made using the original recipes, the outlet reported.
According to the statement, the products that will be changed back to the classic recipes make up about three percent of Reese’s products.
But Reese told the New York Times that the announcement from Hershey was ‘just a PR stunt.’
‘There’s no victory here. If they were serious, they would do it right away,’ he told the outlet.
Hershey, however, made it clear that most of the company’s Reese’s products, including Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and classic shapes, are made using the original recipes
HB Reese, the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. He died in 1956
Kleinfelter told NYT in a statement: ‘We are moving with speed with changes targeted to begin in 2027, covering formulation, packaging, supply lines and ingredient sourcing.’
The company said that they had planned for the change long before Reese had publicly voice his criticisms.
‘Consumer preference for ingredients evolve over time, and we have always responded,’ Kleinfelter wrote.
Hershey’s Chief Financial Officer Steven Voskuil admitted last year in a conference call with investors that the company had made some changes in its formulas, largely to cut costs in the face of rising cocoa prices.
Voskuil never specified which products had their recipes changed, but maintained that Hershey’s has maintained the ‘taste profile and the specialness of our iconic brands’.
‘I would say in all the changes that we’ve made thus far, there has been no consumer impact whatsoever. As you can imagine, even on the smallest brand in the portfolio, if we were to make a change, there’s extensive consumer testing,’ he said.
Reese, however, doesn’t agree and has said that people have told him that Reese’s products don’t taste as good as they used to.
‘I absolutely believe in innovation, but my preference is innovation with quality,’ he said.
The Daily Mail reached out to Brad Reese and The Hershey Company for comment.
Dining and Cooking