Grandson Of Reese's Inventor Slams Hershey, Calls Recent Holiday Chocolates 'Not Edible'

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Reese's Peanut Butter Cups have been receiving backlash recently. Customers who've eaten them for years swear their taste has noticeably degraded, and a 2024 analysis by LendingTree found that at least three Reese's products went up in price and down in size — also known as shrinkflation. Regular fans aren't he only ones unhappy with the candy brand. The grandson of the man behind Reese's origin story has publicly called out parent company Hershey's for allegedly ruining the taste of the classic chocolate treat.

Brad Reese, whose grandfather, H.B. Reese, invented Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in 1928, shared an open letter to Todd Scott, The Hershey Company's manager of corporate brand and editorial, on Linkedin. In the letter, he accuses the company of replacing the ingredients Reese's cups are known for with lesser substitutes, consequently jeopardizing the confidence Reese's customers have in the brand.

"My grandfather ... built Reese's on a simple, enduring architecture: Milk chocolate + peanut butter ... A real, tangible product identity that consumers have trusted for a century," he wrote. "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 an interview with Associated Press, Reese said he recently wasted a bag of Reese's Mini Hearts made with "chocolate candy and peanut butter crème." "It was not edible," he claimed.

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After posting his strongly worded letter to Hershey's, Brad Reese kept his LinkedIn shares lively by sharing snippets of response emails he received. "They used to taste so much better ... Something has definitely changed in how they are made," read one. "I worked at the Virginia plant and saw so much change ... ever since they switched chocolate to synthetic fat, machinery settings had to be changed," added another. A LinkedIn commenter argued that the seasonal shapes are tastier than the O.G. cups now, to which Reese said, "You don't get that kind of shift unless the underlying Reese's architecture has moved."

In response, The Hershey Company, which bought Reese's in 1963, alleged it uses real ingredients, even if a recipe changes. "Our iconic Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are made the same way they always have been," Hershey's official statement explained, "starting with roasting fresh peanuts to make our unique, one-of-a-kind peanut butter that is then combined with milk chocolate. 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..." (via ABC27).

It's unclear whether Reese's claims will spark changes on Hershey's side. For the sake of fans everywhere, we hope the recipe returns to its roots. After all, there's a scientific reason Reese's taste so good — it's called dynamic sensory contrast, or a flawless combination of opposing textures and flavors — and we wouldn't want that to change.