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Heir to Reese's chocolate accuses Hershey of altering recipes. The grandson of HB Reese, the inventor of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, is accusing Hershey of faking their pledge to investors to switch back to recipes of its most popular products to the original milk and dark chocolate ones. Besides Reese's, this pledge also included reverting back to the original KitKat recipe. Hershey, a $42 billion company, and Brad Reese began having conflict in February after Reese, 70, accused the chocolate giant of "quietly replacing" the ingredients in his grandfather's invention with "cheaper compound coatings and peanut butter style crèmes," according to reports. At a recent Hershey investor conference, the company made the pledge stating that they would change about 3% of select products back to the original recipes, but also emphasized that they never altered Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Stacy Taffet, the company's chief growth officer, stated that Hershey was "transitioning our sweets portfolio to colors from natural sources, and ensuring that all Hershey's and Reese's offerings are consistent with their brand's classic milk and dark chocolate recipes." Reese has accused Hershey of "ingredient drift across flagship brands," describing their move as a "board level accountability problem," causing shareholders to sell stock. "Your consumers are revolting," Reese stated. Reese told the New York Times that he "is not satisfied" and the changes they promised aren't coming quickly enough. "This is just a PR stunt; there's no victory here. If they were serious, they would do it right away." The company made their own statement, not in direct response to Reese, claiming that the changes were already under way and they had already decided to revert to classic recipes before his complaint. Hershey said that they saw a 25% increase in research and development to fund talent, technology, and nutrition science. Reese is alleging that Hershey changed the recipe to Reese's Cups when they initially bought the brand in the 1960s. Reese's first complaint was posted on LinkedIn, in which he claimed that the recipes were "being rewritten, not by storytellers, but by formulation decisions that replace Milk Chocolate with compound coatings and Peanut Butter with peanut-butter-style crèmes." He went on to say he first noticed the difference between the current recipe and his grandfather's after he tried Reese's Unwrapped Chocolate Peanut Butter Creme Mini Hearts. "I opened it up, and I had about two of them, and I had to spit them out. I dumped the entire contents into my kitchen garbage can, and I kept the pouch. I checked it and it wasn't milk chocolate, it wasn't real peanut butter." "I've never in my entire life spit out a Reese's product." Other members of the Reese family, however, do not support Brad's complaints. In a statement provided to USA Today by Hershey, the family said that Brad's "statements and opinions are entirely his own and do not reflect the view or position of our family." "We continue to respect The Hershey Company, its leadership, and its longstanding role in our community," they said. "We believe HB Reese would take great pride in the products produced under his name today and in the integrity with which the brand continues to be managed." Brad Reese responded by stating that he didn't accept his family's statement and accused Hershey of trying to "shoot the messenger." "Hershey can issue all the statements it wants. They changed the REESE'S product. They got caught. And now they're trying to manage perception instead of fixing the problem. The evidence chain isn't going away," Reese exclaimed. Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at [email protected].

Ankit Desai appointed Senior Director of Marketing at Mondelez International. Before this move, Ankit Desai spent nearly seven years at The Hershey Company Ankit Desai has joined Mondelez International as Senior Director of Marketing, concluding a nearly seven-year association with The Hershey Company. At Mondelez, Desai will take on a key responsibility, overseeing marketing and P&L for the company's $1 billion-plus India chocolates and tablets portfolio. His remit includes some of the country's most well-known brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Silk, Bournville, Crispello, and Nutties - brands that continue to lead India's chocolate consumption space. Desai brings extensive cross-market expertise along with a proven record in building and scaling confectionery and food brands across regions. During his tenure at Hershey, he held several leadership positions across India and the Asia-Pacific region. Most recently, he served as General Manager for APAC, managing markets including China, Australia, and New Zealand from Singapore. Before that, he headed South Asia as General Manager and also worked as Chief Marketing Officer for Hershey India between 2021 and 2024, where he played a key role in strengthening the brand portfolio and driving growth across categories such as chocolates, spreads, syrups, and cocoa-based products. His earlier roles at Hershey included AVP Marketing and Category Head, where he contributed to product innovation and global strategy through the company's Global Innovations Council. Prior to joining Hershey in 2017, Desai built a strong base in marketing and sales across leading FMCG firms. At Kellogg Company, he worked on the muesli and hot cereals segment, supporting category growth and brand positioning in India. Earlier, at Perfetti Van Melle, he progressed through roles in sales, trade marketing, and brand management, gaining deep expertise in both on-ground execution and strategic brand building.