'This Is Very Devastating' — Grandson Of Reese's Inventor Accuses Hershey Of Changing Its Recipe

In a call with investors in February of 2025, the Chief Financial Officer of Hershey's Chocolate, Steve Voskuil, was asked about changing the recipes. Prices for cocoa had been going up and peaked in January of 2025 thanks to weather conditions in West Africa, the main growing region for cacao. Many chocolate companies began to reformulate their recipes to cut down on the amount of chocolate used. Bars labeled "milk chocolate" became "chocolate candy." Voskuii confirmed that Hershey's made some changes to recipes and considered making more, finishing with, "I would say in all the changes that we've made thus far, there has been no consumer impact whatsoever." There is one consumer who has felt the impact, the grandson of Reese's inventor H.B. Reese: Brad Reese.

Taking to LinkedIn, Reese has been challenging various executives at Hershey's to return to the original Reese's Peanut Butter Cup formula. What was once "milk chocolate and peanut butter" is now "chocolate candy and peanut butter crème," according to the packaging. In an interview with the Associated Press, Reese complained that the new formula is "not edible." As someone who used to eat a Reese's every day, he said, "This is very devastating for me." We struggle with this news as well, as in 2023 Reese's was near the top of our ranking of peanut butter cups.

In order to put on the package that a bar is "milk chocolate," the FDA requires the product to have at least 10% chocolate liquor (a paste made of ground cocoa beans and no alcohol), 12% milk solids, and 3.39% milk fat. If the bar does not meet those benchmarks, companies will often refer to it as "chocolate candy." While Reese's still appears to market most of the cups as chocolate, the last straw for the founder's grandson appeared to be that the mini hearts peanut butter cups were labeled "chocolate candy and peanut butter crème."

Fake versus real chocolate can be confusing. It comes down to couverture chocolate versus compound chocolate. Couverture is at least 30% cocoa butter, while compound chocolate uses vegetable fat like palm or shea. The taste is noticeable. Reese is accusing Hershey's of using compound chocolate in its coating, which is not as rich and chocolatey. So, you may be better off making your own peanut butter cups until Brad Reese gets through to the executives at Hershey's.