The grandson of the inventor of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, who has publicly criticized The Hershey Company for tinkering with the classic formula in its spinoff products, appears to have gotten some sweet revenge.
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The candy company has announced that it will return to using “classic milk and dark chocolate recipes” in all it’s Reese’s and Hershey’s products by 2027.
« If this is true, the people who deserve the credit are the loyal fans who were alarmed by what Hershey was doing, » Brad Reese told NBC News on Wednesday. « But I am seeing a lot of red flags here. I think what Hershey is trying to do here is change with PR narrative. »
Reese, whose demands that Hershey stop skimping on chocolate went viral in February, said he trusts his taste buds more that he trusts the company that produces iconic candies that bear his family name.
« If something like the Valentine’s Day Reese’s Mini Heart still doesn’t taste like real milk chocolate next year, I’ll know they’re lying, » he said.
Hershey CEO Kirk Tanner made the announcement on Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg.
“We’re going to make some small investments to really align the portfolio to what the brand stands for,” Tanner said. “That consistency is important across the brand.”
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have been made with the same ingredients since 1928 — milk chocolate and peanut butter.
Starting next year, Tanner said candies inspired by the originals like the « mini Reese’s cups and shapes » as well as the Reese’s Fast Break candy bar will also been made with real milk chocolate instead of a chocolate compound coating.
In addition, all the classic Hershey’s chocolate bars will also be made with « pure milk and dark chocolate, » he said. And Hershey is « enhancing » the Kit Kat candy bar « for a creamier taste and texture. »
In all, the company said the shift from chocolate compound coatings to the real thing will affect less than three percent of the Reese’s products and a tiny portion of Hershey’s products.
And Hershey is « on track » to remove all artificial colors from its products by the end of next year, the company said.
Tanner, in the Bloomberg interview, also insisted that the switch back to real chocolate was in the works long before Reese went public with his complaints.
“Right when I started with the company, we did a deep dive across our portfolio,” said Tanner, who joined the firm in August 2025.
Reese scoffed at that claim from Tanner.
« You know when this became an issue? » he asked. « Valentine’s Day. This has been going on since Valentine’s Day. »
Reese began taking Hershey to task after discovering that the company had replaced the milk chocolate with a chocolate-flavored coating on some of its Reese’s-inspired products like the Valentine’s Day Reese’s Mini Hearts.
Infuriated, Reese posted a link to a letter of complaint he wrote to Todd Scott, who does the corporate branding for Hershey’s, on his LinkedIn page.
Reese invoked the name of his grandfather H.B. Reese, who invented the iconic peanut butter cup in 1928 and started a candy company that produced them until 1963. Hershey has been making them ever since.
“My grandfather,” Reese wrote, “built REESE’S on a simple, enduring architecture: Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter.”
But Hershey, he wrote, has replaced the original formula « with compound coatings and Peanut Butter with peanut-butter style cremes across multiple REESE’S products.”
That letter went viral.
Hershey insisted that the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were made the same way they have always been. But the company also conceded that as it expanded its “Reese’s product line” it had tinkered with the original recipe.
Right now, the Reese’s Mini Eggs that are a staple at Easter celebrations do not contain milk chocolate, according to their labels.
Neither do Reese’s Pieces, which were introduced in 1978 and became a sensation after they were featured in the 1982 movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestial.”
In response to an NBC News request for a full list of Reese’s and Hershey’s products that will return to using « classic milk and dark chocolate recipes, » the company released a statement that reiterated much of what Tanner said earlier.
« The core recipes for our Hershey’s chocolate bars and Reese’s peanut butter cups have not changed, » it said, in part.
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