Reese's heir can't stomach family candy as consumers erupt over recipe change: 'Gross and waxy'
· Fox News
Reese's is drawing backlash online after the founder's grandson alleged the company altered ingredients in select products.
In a widely reported LinkedIn post, Brad Reese, the grandson of founder H.B. Reese, alleged that multiple Reese's products no longer contain milk chocolate.
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His criticism appears to focus on certain seasonal or specialty items, not the company's classic Peanut Butter Cups.
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"My grandfather built Reese's on a simple, enduring architecture: milk chocolate + peanut butter," he 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."
Reese told FOX Business he threw out a bag of Reese's Unwrapped Chocolate Peanut Butter Crème Mini Hearts candies after taking a couple of bites.
"I couldn't eat it," Reese said. "It was not edible, and I looked at the packaging. … There was no milk chocolate. There was no peanut butter. It was all vegetable oils and fats.
"I can't go on representing being the grandson of Reese's when the product is total bunk. You have no idea how devastating it is."
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In an X post that drew some 26,000 likes and over 820,000 views, thousands of commenters weighed in with few, if any, positive responses.
"I got roasted last Halloween at work for saying they aren't the same anymore and that I don't even eat them now," one X user said. "They said I was crazy. Vindicated."
Another social media user said Reese's Peanut Butter Cups don't "remotely [taste] like it was decades ago when I took my first bite."
The X user wrote, "It used to melt in your mouth & hands. Very disappointing."
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A third X user said he thought "it was just me getting older."
"Reese's were my favorite chocolate candy as a kid. I had one recently, and it tasted gross and waxy," the commenter said. "Literally could not finish it."
A Hershey's spokesperson told Fox News Digital that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups "are made the same way they always have been."
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The official said, "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."
The spokesperson added that recipes are "continuously informed by consumer testing, evolving preferences and our ongoing commitment to quality."
"As innovations and forms change over time, those updates are always reflected in on-pack ingredient information, which is the most accurate and up-to-date source for consumers," the statement added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Reese for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
Sophia Compton of Fox News Digital contributed reporting.