Grandson of Reese’s inventor says Hershey is selling a total imitation
Brad Reese says Hershey ruined his grandfather’s candy recipe.
The short version
- His cousin Becky Hilgers says the family recipe tastes the same.
- Hershey admitted changing some coatings and plans to fix them by 2027.
- Reese’s brings in $3 billion a year for the company.
Check your Halloween candy stash this year. Brad Reese, the 71-year-old Grandson of the candy's inventor living in West Palm Beach, Florida, has spent eight months accusing Hershey, the chocolate giant that bought his family's business in 1963, of selling a total imitation of the original Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
"This is not the Hershey Company, it's not my company, it is a total imitation, it's a fraud," Brad Reese told Fortune. The feud erupted on Valentine's Day when he opened a bag of Reese's Unwrapped Mini Hearts, tasted one, threw them away, and posted an angry open letter on LinkedIn complaining that the label read chocolate candy and peanut butter crème instead of real milk chocolate.
Social media users quickly flooded the post with complaints about waxy textures and chemical aftertastes. Meanwhile, his cousin Becky Hilgers, speaking for the rest of the family in Hershey, Pennsylvania, wants him to stop and insists the candy still tastes the same.
The family's multi-million dollar stake began when H.B. Reese's six sons merged the candy business into Hershey for stock worth about $23 million at the time, according to the company's 1963 annual report. Hershey, which brings in $3 billion a year from Reese's alone, conceded that it changed the coating on some products and will change them back by 2027, adding that the changes happened before current leadership took over. For your next trip down the candy aisle, check the wrapper.
Photo: Antarctic96, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
