Reese’s heir accuses Hershey of cutting corners
The grandson of the man who invented the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup has a message for Hershey: that’s not milk chocolate, and it’s definitely not peanut butter.
Brad Reese, 70, said in a Feb. 14 letter to Hershey’s corporate brand manager that for multiple Reese’s products, the company replaced milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with peanut crème.
“How does The Hershey Co. continue to position Reese’s as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients (Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter) that built Reese’s trust in the first place?” Reese wrote in the letter, which he posted on his LinkedIn profile.
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’s Peanut Butter Cups in 1928; his six sons eventually sold his company to Hershey in 1963.
Hershey says it’s innovation, a response to consumer demand and soaring cocoa prices. But when the label reads more like a workaround than a recipe, even the founder’s grandson takes notice.
You can change the coating. You can rename the filling. But at some point, a peanut butter cup is either what it says it is — or it’s chocolate candy with a branding problem.
Why is it that whenever a big company says "innovation" they mean improving profits for them and degrading the experience for customers?
It might be that this is the best workaround they can find for cocoa becoming more expensive and wanting to be able to slap the name "Reese's" on an ever-expanding array of spinoff products. But better to be honest about that.