Heir of Reese’s creator slams Hershey for changing key ingredients

The Hershey Company was recently criticized for product formulation changes by Brad Reese, grandson of H. B. Reese, who created the iconic Reese’s chocolate.

In an open letter to The Hershey Company, Reese said, “My grandfather, H. B. Reese (Who Invented Reese’s), built Reese’s on a simple, enduring architecture: Milk chocolate + peanut butter. Not a flavour 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 crèmes across multiple Reese’s products.”

In a statement to Food in Canada, The Hershey Company clarified the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are still made with peanut butter and milk chocolate, but adjustments to ingredients were made for other Reese’s products.

“Our iconic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are made the same way they always have been; starting with roasting fresh peanuts to make our unique, one-of-a-kind peanut butter that is then combined with milk chocolate,” the statement said. “As we’ve grown and expanded the Reese’s product line, we make product recipe adjustments that allow us to make new shapes, sizes and innovations that Reese’s fans have come to love and ask for, while always protecting the essence of what makes Reese’s unique and special: the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter.”