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Hershey is going back to its beloved classic recipe.

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The candy company has announced that it will return to using “classic milk and dark chocolate recipes” in all its Reese’s and Hershey’s products, after the grandson of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups inventor publicly slammed Hershey for messing with the classic formula in its other products.

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Brad Reese has long criticized the company, but things took a turn when he penned an open letter to Hershey’s corporate brand manager on Valentine’s Day.

‘Not edible’

“My grandfather, H. B. Reese, built Reese’s on a simple, enduring architecture: Milk Chocolate + Peanut Butter. Not a flavour idea. Not a marketing construct. A real, tangible product identity that consumers have trusted for a century,” Reese wrote.

“How does The Hershey Company continue to position Reese’s as its flagship brand, a symbol of trust, quality and leadership, while quietly replacing the very ingredients that built Reese’s trust in the first place?”

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Reese, who is determined to protect Reese’s brand integrity, wrote the letter after trashing a bag of Reese’s Mini Hearts, a special Valentine’s product.

“It was not edible,” Brad said at the time. “You have to understand — I used to eat a Reese’s product every day. This is very devastating for me.”

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are made with real milk chocolate or dark chocolate and peanut butter, but some Hershey’s and Reese’s products are made with a chocolate compound coating.

When can fans expect the change?

Along with resuming using “classic milk chocolate and dark chocolate” in its recipes by 2027, the company also said it plans to increase its research and development funding by 25% next year.

Starting next year, candies inspired by the originals — like the “mini Reese’s cups and shapes,” and the Reese’s Fast Break — will also be made with real milk chocolate instead of the coating containing less chocolate, Hershey CEO Kirk Tanner told Bloomberg.

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The classic Hershey’s chocolate bars will also be made with “pure milk and dark chocolate,” and will be “enhancing” the Kit Kat bar “for a creamier taste and texture,” he added.

Hershey vs. Reese

The CEO insisted the return to real chocolate was part of the plan after he joined the company in August 2025, long before Reese went public with his complaints.

“Right when I started with the company, we did a deep dive across our portfolio,” Tanner told Bloomberg. “We’re going to make some small investments to really align the portfolio to what the brand stands for. That consistency is important across the brand.”

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However, Reese scoffed at Tanner’s claims.

“You know when this became an issue? Valentine’s Day. This has been going on since Valentine’s Day,” he told NBC News.

“If this is true, the people who deserve the credit are the loyal fans who were alarmed by what Hershey was doing,” Reese continued, but admitted he saw “a lot of red flags” with Hershey’s announcement.

“I think what Hershey is trying to do here is change with PR narrative,” he added. “If something like the Valentine’s Day Reese’s Mini Heart still doesn’t taste like real milk chocolate next year, I’ll know they’re lying.”

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