{"id":5484,"date":"2026-02-21T15:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/21\/grandson-of-the-inventor-of-reeses-peanut-butter-cups-accuses-hershey-of-cutting-corners\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T15:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:40:17","slug":"grandson-of-the-inventor-of-reeses-peanut-butter-cups-accuses-hershey-of-cutting-corners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/21\/grandson-of-the-inventor-of-reeses-peanut-butter-cups-accuses-hershey-of-cutting-corners\/","title":{"rendered":"Grandson of the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups accuses Hershey of cutting corners"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grandson of the inventor of Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups has lashed out at The Hershey Co.<\/a>, accusing the candy company of hurting the Reese\u2019s brand by shifting to cheaper ingredients in many products.<\/p>\n

Hershey<\/a> acknowledges some recipe changes but said Wednesday that it was trying to meet consumer demand for innovation. High cocoa prices also have led Hershey and other manufacturers to experiment with using less chocolate in recent years.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Brad Reese, 70, said in a Feb. 14 letter to Hershey\u2019s corporate brand manager that for multiple Reese\u2019s products<\/a>, the company replaced milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with peanut cr\u00e8me.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does The Hershey Co. continue to position Reese\u2019s as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients (Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter) that built Reese\u2019s trust in the first place?\u201d Reese wrote in the letter, which he posted on his LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n

He is the grandson of H.B. Reese, who spent two years at Hershey before forming his own candy company in 1919. H.B. Reese invented Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups in 1928; his six sons eventually sold his company to Hershey in 1963.<\/p>\n

Hershey said Wednesday that Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups are made the same way they always have been, with milk chocolate and peanut butter that the company makes itself from roasted peanuts and a few other ingredients, including sugar and salt. But some Reese\u2019s ingredients vary, Hershey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we\u2019ve grown and expanded the Reese\u2019s product line, we make product recipe adjustments that allow us to make new shapes, sizes and innovations that Reese\u2019s fans have come to love and ask for, while always protecting the essence of what makes Reese\u2019s unique and special: the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Brad Reese said he thinks Hershey went too far. He said he recently threw out a bag of Reese\u2019s Mini Hearts, which were a new product released for Valentine\u2019s Day<\/a>. The packaging notes that the heart-shaped candies are made from \u201cchocolate candy and peanut butter cr\u00e8me,\u201d not milk chocolate and peanut butter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not edible,\u201d Reese told The Associated Press in an interview. \u201cYou have to understand. I used to eat a Reese\u2019s product every day. This is very devastating for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has strict ingredient and labeling requirements for chocolate. To be considered milk chocolate, products must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor, which is a paste made from ground cocoa beans and contains no alcohol. Products also must contain at least 12% milk solids and 3.39% milk fat.<\/p>\n

Companies can get around those rules by using other wording on their packaging. The wrapper for Hershey\u2019s Mr. Goodbar, for example, contains the words \u201cchocolate candy\u201d instead of \u201cmilk chocolate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese said Hershey changed the recipes for multiple Reese\u2019s products in recent years. Reese\u2019s Take5 and Fast Break bars used to be coated with milk chocolate, he said, but now they aren\u2019t. In the early 2000\u2019s, when Hershey released White Reese\u2019s, they were made with white chocolate. Now they\u2019re made with a white creme, he said.<\/p>\n

Reese said Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups sold in Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland are also different than U.S. versions. On Wednesday, a package advertised on the website of British online supermarket Ocado described the candy as \u201cmilk chocolate-flavored coating and peanut butter cr\u00e8me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hershey disputed that. The company said the Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups it sells in the European Union and the United Kingdom use the same recipe as the U.S. version. The labels vary because the EU and the U.K. both require milk chocolate products to have higher percentages of cocoa, milk solids and milk fats, Hershey said.<\/p>\n

In a conference call with investors last year, Hershey Chief Financial Officer Steven Voskuil said the company made some changes in its formulas. Voskuil did not say for which products but said Hershey was very careful to maintain the \u201ctaste profile and the specialness of our iconic brands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say in all the changes that we\u2019ve 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\u2019s extensive consumer testing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Brad Reese said he often has people tell him that Reese\u2019s products don\u2019t taste as good as they used to. He said Pennsylvania-based Hershey should keep in mind a famous quote from its founder, Milton Hershey: \u201cGive them quality, that\u2019s the best advertising.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely believe in innovation, but my preference is innovation with quality,\u201d Reese said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The grandson of the inventor of Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups has lashed out at The Hershey Co., accusing the candy company of hurting the Reese\u2019s brand by shifting to cheaper ingredients in many products. Hershey acknowledges some recipe changes but said Wednesday that it was trying to meet consumer demand for innovation. High cocoa prices <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5485,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}