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Brad Reese criticizes Hershey for ingredient changes in

Reese's

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Hershey denies drastic changes to Reese's formulation

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Cocoa price crash affects global chocolate industry

By Marcelo Teixeira

NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The grandson of the man who

created ​the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup took to ‌social media over

the weekend to criticize the popular candy's manufacturer, The

Hershey Company ( HSY ), about alleged changes ⁠in the

confection's ingredients.

Brad Reese, grandson of H.B. Reese, published an open ⁠letter on

his LinkedIn profile complaining to Hershey about ‌the

replacement of milk ‌chocolate and peanut butter with cheaper

substitutes in the Reese's line of products. Hershey and the

Reese ​company merged in the 1960s.

Several chocolate ‌companies have changed their products'

formulations in the past two years after cocoa prices hit an

all-time high above $12,000 per ​metric ton in late 2024.

They replaced ​cocoa butter ‌and cocoa powder with other

cheaper, non-cocoa alternatives in some of their products,

looking to cut costs.

"My grandfather built Reese's on a ⁠simple, enduring

architecture: milk chocolate + peanut butter," Brad Reese wrote.

"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."

Hershey on Tuesday denied drastic changes to Reese's

formulation: "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."

Cocoa prices have fallen more than 70% since the record

price due to falling demand and improving supply, as many people

cut chocolate buying and companies reduced packages ​or opted for

alternative ingredients.

That led to a complete reversal of the situation. Farmers in the

top cocoa-producing countries Ghana and Ivory Coast are now

having ​trouble selling their beans, and ‌are stockpiling them

wherever they can.