Replay: The Reese’s Controversy with Brad Reese

Summary

Podcast Summary: Replay: The Reese’s Controversy with Brad Reese

Podcast: We Fixed It, You're Welcome
Episode Date: July 28, 2026
Guests: Brad Reese (grandson of H.B. Reese, inventor of Reese’s)
Hosts: Aaron, Melissa

Episode Overview

This replay episode revisits the viral “Reese’s Controversy,” featuring Brad Reese, a descendant of the Reese family, who has publicly challenged Hershey’s over quiet changes to the iconic Reese’s peanut butter cups. As customer dissent mounts and accusations intensify around ingredient swaps and declining quality, the panel explores what legacy companies owe their loyal consumers, how brands can manage trust, and what would truly “fix” Reese’s—and Hershey’s—current credibility crisis.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Why Brad Reese Came Forward

• Brad Reese explains his family legacy: he’s the grandson of H.B. Reese (01:50).
• The catalyst: noticing, along with thousands online, perceptible changes in the taste and texture of Reese’s due to ingredient changes (02:24).
• Reese’s is no longer a single product; there are 60+ variants, making it easier for ingredient swaps to go unnoticed by consumers (02:56).

2. Hershey’s “Quiet Swaps” and Response

• Hershey’s has not directly engaged with Brad or the broader base of concerned consumers; any communication was requests to remove Brad’s LinkedIn posts, not claims of inaccuracy (04:28, 04:38).
• Ingredient swaps (from milk chocolate to compound coatings, peanut butter to “peanut butter creme”) happened quietly, often only noted by the eagle-eyed inspecting ingredient panels (06:41, 08:49).
• Hershey’s PR has tried to change the narrative, including gathering statements from some other Reese family members (04:38–06:41).

Memorable Quote:

“I haven’t heard a peep...The only time Hershey will communicate with me is if they want something—usually for me to take down a LinkedIn post.” – Brad Reese (04:28)

3. Consumer Betrayal and Erosion of Brand Trust

• Fans, including the hosts, recount their own “Wait, this tastes weird” moments—a wave of consumer gaslighting dismissed until Brad’s posts validated the experience (09:36–11:58).
• The quiet swaps have left many questioning their own taste buds and sense of nostalgia.
• Compound coatings and lower-quality ingredients are seen as not only economic tactics, but as affronts to brand heritage and consumer loyalty.

Notable Quote:

“To your point, Brad, this waxy imitation is really something that really needs to be addressed ... it actually makes the consumer question themselves.” – Melissa (09:36)

4. Impact on the Reese Family and Brand Ambassadorship

• Brad details the heartbreak of no longer being able to champion or promote Reese’s:

“I can no longer promote my, my family heritage brand. I can no longer promote it because I don't believe in it anymore.” (13:08)

• He underscores that only his brother, Andrew Reese, has the legal right to H.B. Reese’s name and likeness, who also supports ingredient transparency (06:41).

5. Analysis of Hershey’s Business Motives

• The hosts and Brad agree Hershey's primary motivation is profit maximization—even at the expense of product legacy and loyal customer experience (17:14–20:49).
• Price spikes in cocoa and other supply-chain issues are cited as reasons for swaps, but Brad points out that this doesn’t explain the “peanut butter to peanut butter creme” shift (31:36–32:32).

6. Missed Opportunities and Competitive Risks

• Hershey’s is missing out strategically by not leveraging its own product line fully—extensions like Reese’s Puffs Cereal drive cross-purchases, but aren’t even promoted on Reese's digital channels (35:37–37:42).
• Competitors like Justin’s and Feastables (Mr. Beast) are advancing, as even senior Hershey execs jump ship (55:53–56:45).
• The panel discusses potential partnerships—e.g., an H.B. Reese legacy brand with high-end chocolate, or collaborations with Ghirardelli or Mars (21:00–22:29, 26:09–28:14).

7. What Should Hershey’s and Reese’s Do?

• Transparency: Openly communicate ingredient changes, root causes, and future intentions (29:57–31:36, 37:47–39:15).
• Return to Classic Recipes: Restore original milk chocolate and peanut butter in core SKUs.
• Signature/Heritage Line: Create a premium “H.B. Reese Signature” or “Heritage” line with the original recipes and ingredients (26:08–29:09, 39:30–42:28).
• Governance: Form a “Heritage Review Board”—cross-functional oversight for changes impacting taste/brand trust (39:30–41:50, 60:44–62:51).
• Clear Labeling: Transparent language on ingredients; QR codes for recipe history and ingredient transparency (41:50–43:40).

8. Competitor & Market Dynamics

• The risk of “opening the floodgates” to upstarts and established competitors is real; people are ready to switch if a brand doesn’t listen or maintain quality (56:45–59:07).
• New loyalty is quickly forming around alternative products as Reese’s falters (58:21–59:07).

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Hershey’s lack of response:
  “I haven’t heard a peep ... The only time Hershey will communicate with me is if they want something.” – Brad Reese (04:28)
• On personal devastation:
  “I can no longer promote my family heritage brand. I don't believe in it anymore.” – Brad Reese (13:08)
• On cost engineering:
  “Innovation that erodes the ingredient structure of Reese's—that's not innovation. That's cost engineering.” – Brad Reese (43:40)
• On what’s at stake:
  “If Reese’s can no longer be Reese’s, then what else in our society is no longer sacred? I mean, the taste of Reese’s is actually sacred to Reese’s fans.” – Brad Reese (63:20)
• On competitor moves:
  “The guy who ran all the plants for the Hershey company...is now [with] Justin's peanut butter cups. What does that tell you?” – Brad Reese (55:53)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro to the controversy and Brad Reese: 00:41–02:24
• The ingredient swap phenomena explained: 02:24–04:28
• Hershey’s (non-)response & family letter: 04:28–06:41
• Specific examples of ingredient changes: 06:41–09:36
• Consumer confusion, betrayal, and nostalgia: 09:36–13:08
• Brad’s pivot from brand ambassador to integrity protector: 13:08–14:39
• Hershey’s business logic, supply chain defense: 17:14–20:49
• Function and impact of product portfolio: 35:24–39:04
• Governance and transparency solutions: 39:30–43:40
• Heritage/Signature line proposal: 26:09–28:14 & throughout
• Competitor encroachment and opportunity: 55:53–59:05
• What Hershey should do—a proposed fix: 54:25–60:44
• Closing thoughts and call to Hershey’s executives: 62:34–69:13

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Actionable “Fixes” Proposed

• Transparency with consumers (especially regarding ingredient changes and the real reasons behind them).
• Restore original recipes on core Reese’s items; consider a premium/heritage line for ultra-faithful fans.
• Implement an internal “Heritage Review” process to evaluate and communicate recipe changes.
• Market extensions and licensees more cohesively to shelter the core brand from dilution.
• Stronger, honest branding and labeling language and tools (e.g., QR code ingredient trackers).
• Listen to brand advocates (like Brad) and loyalists—don’t gaslight the most passionate consumers.

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Tone and Final Thoughts

The tone is passionate, occasionally frustrated, and deeply nostalgic, but also constructive and fair. Brad Reese’s personal loss is palpable, and the discussion is rooted in both sentiment and smart business strategy. The panel repeatedly emphasizes that an open, honest restoration of product quality and consumer trust can turn the ship around. The risk to Hershey: if they do not act, powerful new competitors will step in, and a century-old American brand’s relevance may be irreparably eroded.

Closing Quote:

“I could switch horses real quickly ... but it. It really is disappointing. And I just, you know, I think. Thank you very much, Melissa and Aaron, for your encouragement and support. This is so important to me ... unless the Reese's fans speak up, the Hershey company is—I think they're listening. I mean, they have to now, don't they?” – Brad Reese (64:49)

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Follow Brad Reese:
Just Google “Brad Reese” (not the rancher, not the Survivor contestant!) or visit BradRees.com

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Endnote:
The panel invites Hershey executives for dialogue—the ball is in their court. Will they fix it?

We Fixed It, You’re Welcome!

Transcript

[A]

Hey, it's Aaron. We are doing it by popular demand. We are replaying our Reese's episode with Brad Reese, defender of Reese's and his battle with Hershey's. This was taped the week that Brad was on the COVID of the Wall Street Journal and I believe on Good Morning America and about to become an international sensation. You'll hear our conversation. But pretty soon after this came out, Hershey's decided to reverse course and go back to real chocolate and at least some of the products in question, as opposed to chocolate compounds. So that's a win for everyone. If you missed this episode before or you want to hear it again, it's a great one. This is our conversation with Brad Reese. Welcome to We Fixed It. You're welcome. The show where we take over companies,

[B]

you come along for the ride, and

[A]

we try to put them back better than we found them. There are two things that are indisputably true. One, for a very long time, Reese's have been delicious. And two, there are some very real questions being raised about what Reese's is now because for many people, when you bite into a Reese's, not all varieties, but some of them, the taste is different. People love their Reese's, myself included, so naturally, they've been talking about it. One of these people is our guest today, and he's not simply a fan like the rest of us. Please join me in welcoming Brad Reese to the conversation. Brad's the grandson of HB Reese, the inventor of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And you may have seen Brad on LinkedIn under the name of the protector of Reese's brand integrity. What kicked us all off is that he wrote an open letter to the Hershey's company calling out that he and others were experiencing a shift in the company's ingredients that were impacting the product's quality. The story blew up. It's been in the New York Times, NBC News, the Today show, and now Brad's here with us, Melissa and me, to talk about this himself. Thank you so much for being here, Brad, and tell everyone just a little bit more about yourself.

[B]

Well, my dad, Charles Richard Reese, was the youngest of the 16 children of H.B. reece, who invented Reese's. And so I'm 70 years old right now. I live in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is where my grandfather, H.B. reese, died. He died at St. Mary's Hospital. I've got cancer. I will most likely die at the VA Hospital here in West Palm Beach. So I moved here to die here where my grandfather died. So that's kind of closure for me. Wow.

[A]

Well, thank you. Thank you for spending some time with us, Brad. We really appreciate having you here. Well, let's dig into what has the world's attention right now. Right? Well, let's factually, for anyone who says Reese's isn't what it used to be, I mean, that's true. Reese's isn't one product anymore, it's dozens. So you have miniatures, big cups, thins, fast break, Nutrageous, there's holiday shapes, white chocolate, dark chocolate, organic sugar free plant based variations, international varieties, depending on how you count. There's well over 60s Reese's varieties Variations on the market at any given time. What started this firestorm is that there's been this interesting phenomenon across TikTok and all X and all the socials people who love Reese's began posting ingredient comparisons and taste tests and packaging breakdowns and some social media users. And there's been this undercurrent of growing dissent. I've been claiming that the certain variations have been using alternative fats instead of cocoa butter, texture shifts, less definable ingredients such as peanut butter cream creme instead of actual peanut butter. And the debate even drew commentary from Mr. Beast when promoting Feastables, which is his own line of chocolate bars, because of course, Mr. Beast had to weigh in here too. Meanwhile, Hershey's has publicly stated that the core Reese's ingredients have not changed, that their labeling complies with regulations, and all is good in the candy factory. So don't worry about it. But here's what we're trying to fix with you, Brad. When customers of a legacy brand as beloved as Reese's sense that something's different and not for the better, how should the company be responding? Because for those of us who honestly think the experience is a little less sweet, we'd like some explanations. If something really is different. What should the company be doing in this situation? It's up to us to make the, to put together the advice and tell. You know, this is our open forum. So first off, Brad, how, how did Hershey's respond? Zero. Nothing.

[B]

I haven't heard a peep.

[A]

And so that because they put together some statements, there was, there was a video showing a factory tour and the ingredients are the same. Have they said anything to you?

[B]

No. Yes. So I'm referring to me. The only time Hershey will communicate with me is if they want something. And, and usually want something means take. Would you please take down that LinkedIn post that you just published? And they know that if Anything is not accurate if, if I will correct it. But so I, I would say, well, is there anything in my LinkedIn post that's not accurate? Oh, no, it's accurate. We just don't want you to have it published there. It'll be a big favoritist if you take it down. I go, okay, I'll take it down. I try. I try. And, but there's no reciprocal. There's no, they don't give me any information. There's no knowledge that they pass my way. It's, it's total silence. So everything I come up with on my LinkedIn post, that's all my research, all my doing. Hershey does not participate at all. And so, yeah, so I've had no response, zero from them. Now what's interesting is they're trying to change the narrative. And it was interesting how they did that. They then members of the Reese family that are local in Hershey, they try to separate, cause turmoil within the Reese family. And they actually published a letter from the Reese family. And I addressed that in a LinkedIn post. Okay. They didn't say which Reis family members. And what's really interesting, so they're saying that those Reese family members are fine with replacing milk chocolate with compound coating. That's what that letter is basically saying. And I understand that they're concerned about the price of the stock, and so that makes sense. But the Hershey company doing that, I mean, that's their PR people. And what's really interesting, there's only one person out of hundreds of descendants of H.B.

[A]

reece.

[B]

There's only one individual, and that's my younger brother, Andrew Reese, who is the sole legal owner of the rights of publicity to the name, image and likeness of HB Reissue. And he's for my bringing to the attention the ingredients. Swapping out milk chocolate for compound coating, he's for that. But he's the only single Reese relative that actually has the sole legal rights to the name, image, likeness, whites of publicity to HB Reese. And so that letter didn't mention that. But anyway, so they're trying to change the narrative. One other way of narrative is they're changing it for the shapes and sizes. Well, if you go to any grocery store, checkout lane, or any convenience store, you see the king size Reese's. And we're talking about the king size Fast Break. No longer most challenging compound coating. If you look at the king size Reese's stinks the crisp you can't resist. That's been out since 1998. Milk chocolate is no longer used on Reese's sticks. It's compound coating. Probably one of the most recent big successes for Reese's was the Reese's Take 5, which was the subject of the first super bowl ad that the Hershey company ever had. And that was in February 2020 when they rebranded the Hershey's Take 5 as Reese's Take 5. That product, Reese's Take 5 was covered in milk chocolate. The king size bars are no longer covered in milk chocolate compound coating. And they've done that to Hershey products as well as, for example, Mr. Goodbar. Mr. Goodbar has always been milk chocolate and peanuts. Now it's chocolate candy and peanuts. They've done that to the Heath bar. There's no longer milk chocolate. They've done that to Rolos, no longer milk chocolate.

[A]

So it's not just perceptual shifts. There are actual ingredient changes because we, you said like. Yeah. What kicked this off for you was the, the miniature hearts, right?

[B]

Yes, Aaron. I, I don't. I mean, they're doing it so quietly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That if you're not really looking closely, you're not going to catch it. I mean, everything else looks the same. The graphics, Reese's, it's just milk chocolate is no longer there. It's chocolate candy. Or in other words, sometimes they use chocolatey or chocolate covered or made with chocolate. So there's code words that they're using and they're doing it quietly. Hershey is not going out there and saying, hey, we're innovating. We've taken the king size fast break and we've gotten rid of milk chocolate. And at your request, we're now using compound coding. Please, Rush, because it's not gonna last if you don't get there in biome. They're not doing it.

[C]

Yeah. You know, one of the things that I see from a CX perspective is these quiet swaps really erode the emotional anchor of what Reese's has always been, you know, and that nostalgic milk chocolate and peanut butter. What is the comfort candy for so many millions and millions of people all over? Not this. To your point, Brad, this waxy imitation is really something that really needs to be addressed. And you know what's interesting is because they've done this very subtly. They've done it through these quiet swaps, which people don't know because the branding all looks the same, the packaging looks the same. It kind of makes. I, I saw some interesting comments online on social media where people were like, thank you, Brad, for bringing this up because I thought I was going crazy, that my, like, I'm old and maybe my tast certain my taste different. And so I was just like, this doesn't really taste like that. My favorite candy of all time. Right? And so that's really something that I feel like re. You know, Hershey's has been doing to all of these beloved candies, you know, by doing this quiet swap. And it actually makes the consumer question themselves. Right? Because like, you used to, you know, crave that, and now you're like, what is this really? Is this. This is so processed that it doesn't even seem the same.

[A]

Yeah, I had a similar experience. That's, you know, I had the, not the little heart, but the big, like the five ounce heart. And I, I took a bite of it, you know, around Valentine's Day. And I, and I just thought there's like, maybe not enough and too much of everything all at the same time. And it just doesn't have, like, it didn't. You know, you come to expect what Reese's tastes like, and that's why you keep going back and it just, it. And I don't know the ingredients. I didn't do a chemical compound test or anything, but I, as a, as a discerning, you know, lover of the Reese's brand, I took a bite and said, what is this? And then I had a second thing that week, Reese's product. And it just wasn't what I want, what I would want or expect from the company. So then realizing it, it's become like, Melissa, I'm not just crazy, like, wait, maybe there's something to this. And then, Brad, you set it for everybody. Like, there's a moment here.

[C]

Right? Right. And I think it's also a moment for competitors. Right? Because, you know, you know, competitors can come in and be like, I mean, I used to complain at my office because we had this organic Reese's. It wasn't a Reese's cup, but it was organic dark chocolate almond butter cup. And I mean, same shape. They use the same shape as Reese. And I was like, this is not a Reese's Cup. Like, why, why are we buying this? But it was real chocolate. So there you go. That's why you're buying it. Because now this is the taste is what matters. And it's really, you know, it's an unfortunate thing because, you know, for you, Brad, this is your family legacy. And this brand is beloved. It's beloved. And it's, you know, you're kind of positioning, you know, it's a flagship trust symbol. Reese's is. And so to have these ingredients that just invite scrutiny, I mean, it's, it's slander to your family. Right. You know, because that's not what. Oh my God. Your grandfather would be, you know, just horrified by this.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

They've also, I have to point out also I love the Almond Joy, also love Mounds. And both those products no longer have milk chocolate. It's compound coating chocolate candy, they're calling it. So, so these are very important candy brands that are famous, that are getting the same treatment as Reese's. And it is, it was so devastating to me that I, I mean, my website and my LinkedIn profile was Brad Reese growing Reese's worldwide one peanut butter cup at a time. And I was really successful using LinkedIn to contact distributors in Poland, Germany, France, England, Australia, New Zealand. And it was fascinating for me and promoting Reese's. And when they did this, when I realized what has happened, the shift from real milk chocolate to compound coating, I can't promote my, my family heritage brand. I can no longer promote it because I don't believe in it anymore. I mean, it's devastating. It really is just destroyed my whole. And for two days I sulked and didn't realize, what am I, what do I do now? Because I can no longer go forward the way I was promoting Reese's. And that's when I changed my website and my LinkedIn profile to Brad Reese protecting the Reese's brand integrity. So I pivoted.

[A]

And that's a, that's a crucial pivot when you go from ambassador and champion to defender, not defender, protector, prosecutor, basically. I mean, pretty much. Right.

[B]

And the labels don't lie.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Every single national news media outlet has verified, gone out and checked the labels, so forth. So it's been verified. And as you say, all the Reese's lovers always thought there was something wrong with their taste buds or getting old, something because they have. In this country, we have generations of tasting what the Reese's peanut butter cup tasted like. So we have that background, that knowledge, that taste, sensory history. And so we are noticing the differences. And it's amazing because everybody thought it was just them. Now everybody else is saying, yeah, it's me too. And you're not the only one. So, yeah, it's a breakthrough moment.

[D]

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[A]

So why at least the response that I saw from Hershey's was to do, do the PR play of saying, no, no, it's, it's you, it's not us. We're the same. But why, why do you think that was their gut reaction, like, to get on top of the story? Do you think that there's something verifiable about the ingredients not being the same? I think they maybe were concentrating on one formulation or one ingredient, but not looking at the. The ones that are being questioned. Like, it was just a very confusing moment because everyone knew there's, there's been changes. So they come out and say, no, nothing to see here. That seemed very. Just tonally off for the moment, at least to me.

[B]

Well, what do you think, Melissa? Why do you think they did what they did, awarded it the way they did?

[C]

Well, I mean, obviously it's like you, you've already brought up. It's the cocoa shock and input costs, the prices, the pricing. You know, they're trying to kind of mask it in innovation. I would, I don't know if it's innovation, but it's taking advantage of seasonal activities. So having Reese's in the shape of hearts and different line extensions, that's really great. But it's all about profit, Brad. You've talked about it. It's all about profit at the end. And it's disregarding the family legacy. It's disregarding the consumers and what they want. And, you know, I think sometimes consumers are okay with changes and shifts in certain processes and operations and can understand the cost impacts. But at the same time, this is about taste. This has always been about taste. It hasn't. It's not, you know, this isn't like. I'm not talking about the operations in general. I'm talking about what is the fundamental component of Reese's So to me, this is really a real challenge about how you use, you know, transparency, because the Hershey company is just saying we care most about profit, which is what every company cares about unless they're a nonprofit. And we know Hershey's is not a nonprofit. So they really care about, you know, how are they, you know, and you, you've mentioned this before. How are they, what's their share price, how are they answering to the board, all of those kinds of things around their portfolio. So, you know, from a business strategy lens, you know, they're, they're going from being the best, you know, in this component, Reese's being the best. And they're okay with that because they're engineering a margin that's better for them. So really, this is going to be, you know, it'll be interesting because in today's world, Brad, you know, there's a lot of cancel culture. There's a lot of that going on viral, and I think there have been viral moments and you've really raised attention to this, this issue. So the problem really, to me is that the lack. And Aaron, you know more about this from a brand perspective, but just the real lack of transparency. And then, I mean, you know, they're not saying to you, Brad, that they haven't done this. They're just saying, we'd like you to stop being so adamant about your position and take down your posts. So, but they're, but they're not defending their position and saying, oh, but we really do have ch, you know, milk chocolate in there. You know, they're, you're, they're not saying that at all.

[B]

So let me interject. This was not, this was when I was in the promotion mode, okay? And I'm talking about class action lawsuits and so forth. This was not, this was not the ingredients. They didn't tell me to take, they didn't request or ask me to take down my, my LinkedIn post about the ingredients. This was prior to this happening when, when I would touch a nerve or something. It wasn't. What I posted was inaccurate. It was accurate. They just didn't want it to be seen. And so I obliged them because I thought, why not create goodwill and so forth. But anyway, so Reese's no longer tastes like Reese's.

[C]

So. Right.

[B]

So they've hollowed out the most famous chocolate brand in the world, basically.

[A]

And

[B]

what's interesting is the opportunity, okay? Reese's is the only Hershey's product that could use the most popular chocolate brand in any country or any region. Of the world as our chocolate coating. Just here in the United States, we could be using Godiva chocolate as Reese's chocolate coating, Ghirardelli, you, you name it, Guitar chocolate covering, and even Dove. I've even proposed to the president of Mars Wrigley to that Reese's should. Should come out with a limited edition Reese's covered with Dove chocolate. And also A. And that's Mars. And then also Reese's filled with M&Ms. Now, they all laughed and thought I was joking, But I'm serious. You. Can you imagine a Reese big cup stuff with M and M's, the two most famous brands in America, sales wise, that's number one. Number two. And so. But what's really interesting is now I'm hearing from Hershey employees, and they're validating everything I'm saying. What's really interesting is the equipment at the Reese plant at 925 Reese Ave. Which was the plant my. My. My father and my uncles built. My father, my grandfather started it, but he died before it opened. Well, that plant is built from milk chocolate. And the compound coatings are gumming up the machinery.

[A]

Oh, my goodness.

[B]

Production lines. The production lines are closing down. And when you've got a production line down, you're costing you millions of dollars. So they're stooping for the pennies. I mean, they're stupid for the pennies and passing up the dollars. So here they're using this cheap compound ingredient, okay, to save a buck, but it's causing their equipment to crash because that equipment is designed for milk chocolate. It's not designed for the vegetable fats and. And all the compound ingredients they're using.

[A]

So.

[B]

So, I mean, this is not. I'm not. This is true. Now can I confirm it?

[F]

No.

[B]

Nobody at Hershey is going to confirm that. But there's people at Hershey that have for years been working. And by the way, I'm not. I'm not criticizing employees at Hershey. They're doing what they're told. But there's employees at Hershey that have been trying to keep the standard identity of Reese's products intact. And they're constantly fighting the engineers who are squeezing out every last penny a profit. And they won. So the engineers squeezing out every last penny of profit have won over the food scientists who have been trying to protect Reese's historical milk chocolate and peanut butter sensory taste.

[A]

Well, what's interesting, Brad, is such a cannon. If this is happening, which sounds like it probably is, it's. We'll speculate, but it's Such a cannibalization because of Hershey's chocolate is the ingredient, you know, part of the ingredient brand that goes into Reese's. Then the experience is the Hershey's chocolate too. It's a showcase for the, the entire line. Right. If, you know, if consumers can connect it and say, I not only enjoy the Reese's experience but the Hershey's chocolate experience, why don't I go investigate other products or re revisit them. But if you have the opposite reaction, it's, you know, again, if you connect the two brands together, which is a portfolio brand family, but it's, they go together by this point in consumers minds, then you're, you're going to say Hershey's is less, less than they used to be from this one experience. You can, you can change your purchasing habit pretty quick.

[B]

Yeah. And I think Hershey's going to find that out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm the grandson of H.B. reiss and I have no interest in buying another Reese's product. I mean that's, you know how devastating that is.

[F]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean I used to, every day, every day I need, I mean, I wouldn't buy one every day to keep them in my freezer or fridge, but every day I would have one just to remind me because Reese's is lightning in a bottle. Everybody from the 4 year old up to the 1004 year old loves Reese's. And my grandfather used to say, if you can make a product that both young and old and can enjoy your potential customers only limited by the number of people on earth. So I was on a mission growing Reese's worldwide 1 Peanut Butter cup at a time. I was on a mission to go bring Reese's Worldwide because it truly is disruptive to all the other candy products out there. So Aaron, I mean, what do you think Hershey should be doing as far as priority and responding to their ingredient issue?

[C]

I have an idea. Sorry to jump in there. Erin, before you start, go for it. Brad. You don't even realize maybe, but you kind of brought it up. So I love this idea of having a new HB Reese legacy brand.

[F]

Okay.

[C]

That is a spin off and it's a premium brand because we're back to chocolate wax, which is not chocolate with verified original ingredients. You can mark it up because it's premium. And anybody knows you say premium and you say exclusive, you know, exclusive legacy brand. And then really I think it would be wonderful if you know, utilizing the right ingredients, you know, original recipes that you guys could share, you know, you Know that kind of thing. Also, the partnerships that you just mentioned, Brad, like, those are wonderful ideas, innovative ideas of like, hey, HB Reese legacy brand is in partnership with Ghir Deli celebrating. You know, I'm making this up. I used to live in San Francisco. I shouldn't do this. But 200 years of Ghirardelli chocolate, right? And you come up with some really great, you know, you know, trolley car on the packaging, whatever it might be. But that would be a fantastic way to preserve the legacy and then also for Hershey to see what do people and consumers really want? Because honestly, I'm willing to pay more for real chocolate. I don't want to keep putting wax in my mouth. Because you know what? That's not the rush I was getting from the Reese's cup that I usually have. And I seriously, my husband is addicted to them. And so they're sitting in our. In our foyer in a. In a candy jar. But that's interesting, you know, because it hasn't. They really haven't been the same. So. And it's been years and years that he's been doing it. So anyway, I just feel like that's actually a possibility there a fix, Aaron. And I don't know what you think from a brand perspective that could be.

[B]

Oh, no, actually, so. So with the current ingredients, compound coating, you have to understand, Melissa, that people will still buy the Reese's products that have the compound coating. There's no doubt people will still buy it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I'm not discounting that at all. But it's interesting you brought that up, Melissa, about H.B. reis and his name, image and likeness. We offered that. My brother is a sole legal owner, and through me, I offered that to. I contacted way over a hundred hershey executives on LinkedIn and heard back from four saying that that wasn't their department or whatever, but zero. I got. I got no reply. Nothing. Okay. So, I mean, I proposed that. I. I mean, I've proposed that the H.B. reese and, and. And use the old family recipes. Okay.

[C]

Which.

[B]

Which family members have. Okay. And so that's a proposal. And you might be seeing something shortly. I did meet with Jimmy Donaldson.

[A]

Mr.

[B]

Beast. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. Well, I love that. The H.B. reese signature line. What I wouldn't love is if that you pay a premium for a premium product, which obviously it would be. I wouldn't love paying that for what Arisa's peanut butter cup used to be until recently, you know.

[C]

Oh, I see what you're saying.

[A]

Yeah, I would do it, and I'D probably train myself into it with over time. But I wouldn't, I wouldn't love paying, you know, the, for a premium product when the original, like the shelf product should be what it should be. The, the standard, you know, I'll pay, I'll pay more for premium. But let's return the standard to what it, what it, what, what it was first. That's, that would be my pushback.

[B]

Yeah, you bring a very good point in that the current Reese products out there on the shelves right now are in the shelves where the historical Reese's products have been and you're no longer getting the Reese taste. But guess what, the prices are rising.

[A]

Right.

[B]

They're actually raising the price for this compound coating.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I mean, so, so they're actually paying more for genuine imitation. I mean, well, it's, it's, it's laughable. I mean, you're paying more for a product that's inferior. And you said you're, you're paying a little bit more for real. I mean, actually probably you'd be paying, paying now.

[A]

Yeah. At least we'd be getting the real thing. Yes. Part of the, part of what they could, what I haven't seen is, you know, we, we know there was a cocoa shortage and we know there were rising prices. And you know, the part of the narrative if, if there's a story to tell on their side could be, look, we, we've, we've had these supply chain escalations. Everything costs more. We all know as consumers, everything costs more. Here's how we're approaching that. You know, we, we're going to do the original line and it's going to cost more. It's, we're going to do these mass market products and there's going to be some quality compromises. For the moment, bear with us. There's been a shortage, you know, and whether or not that's true to the actual market conditions, I don't know, but it's not, it doesn't seem like there's been this dialogue of let's pull you into this situation and what's been happening since you love our products so much, let's tell you what, what's going on here. So I think that's part of people are just guessing.

[B]

Yeah, you bring up a good point. Aaron and I actually, I'd like to ask you, Aaron and Melissa this. So they're blaming the Cocoa Bean volatility. Okay. But you do realize they're not only replacing milk chocolate with compound punting, they're replacing the peanut Butter with peanut butter cream. So, Aaron, what have you been reading? Is there, is there a peanut shortage?

[A]

Not that I've heard.

[B]

Why are they peanut butter with peanut butter cream? So if they're using the argument that the cocoa beans are a reason why we've done away with milk chocolate and so what's the reason with doing away with real peanut butter? Because is there a peanut shortage? Has had the prices soared. I ask him both that.

[A]

What's your. Not that I've heard Mr. Peanut died a few years ago in a Super bowl commercial. But he came back. So as far as I know, peanuts are alive and well, no shortage.

[B]

So why is Hershey substituting real peanut butter for fake peanut butter?

[A]

That's a fair question. And if they were doing it, let's just say they were doing it behind, you know, behind closed doors. Let's try this out. Let's try this formulation, see if it flies. If people say nothing and we, we pocket a little more, good for us. But people said, wait a second, what's happening? So where's the response to that? That's where. And I'm not, you know, I, I'm not part of the family. I'm just sitting on the outside. As someone who, you know, this was like my, my best, my favorite treat growing up forever. Um, you know, you didn't have your

[B]

whole life destroyed like I did.

[A]

Exactly. And I still take it personally. Well, what have you, you know, you've had this is not the first, I guess coming to heads moment with the Hershey company. There's been other things over the years.

[B]

Yes. And I'd like to say that this current cocoa bean volatility, price wise and so forth, it's down 70% from what it was. But I mean, we're talking. Reese's is a hundred year old brand. We've been dealing with cocoa spikes, pricing forever. Okay, so this is nothing new. And also you might ask yourself, why is it so volatile? See, there's things going on that Hershey has not done. If you're operating your company strictly quarter by quarter, the cocoa, the cocoa situation is a decade. You got to be thinking a decade ahead. And you. So the executives at Hershey are not, they're kicking the can down the road. So rather than tackle it head on right now, let's get this straightened out. They're kicking it down the road. They're not, they're, they're doing PR. So we bought 100, we built eight school, 18 schools and we bought a thousand iPads. Like that's solving the cocoa of the farmer situation. And it's interesting Also in 2020, there's the African cocoa bean living wage. And rather than Hershey paying that, they went to the cocoa exchange and bought the cocoa beans for much, much less on the exchange. So. And that was in 2020. I'm not accusing Hershey of doing anything criminal, but they have not addressed the cocoa volatility. You just need to grab it and take charge. And 10 year, decade, how many, you know, work your way through it. You can't do it, quarterback, you know, they're not doing anything.

[A]

Well, Brad, what do you think about the product diversification? That there's just one Reese's product after another? Do you think that that part have contributed to part of the. We'll call it like a dilution because you just can't keep the quality standard across that many. That many individual skus. Or is it, you know, like, is that part of the friction point?

[B]

I love it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I love the extent I. I absolutely am. Just. It's not enough.

[A]

Yeah, okay.

[B]

It's not enough. I came out with the Reese's credit card, orange credit card with the Reese's logo.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, I would be whipping that out and paying for everything with the Reese's to show my love of Reese's. And I know Reese's fans would. Okay, but that was again before the ingredient issue. Line extensions. What's interesting is that, for example, General Mills since 1994 has made Reese's puff cereal. Have you ever had that?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, so there's a very successful cereal. Over 200 million in sales every year now. Reese's puff cereals. Big, huge success. Try and find it on Reese's.com if you go to Reese's.com, it's nowhere to be found. And it has. Reese's.com lists all the Reese's product manufactured by Hershey, but none of the extensions. So. And what's interesting, Hershey itself has done studies that a shopper that buys a, for example, Reese's Puffs through during the shopping trip, during that same shopping trip, they bought four times more likely buy a Reese's product manufactured by Hershey. So right there, their own study says if a consumer buys a Reese's licensed product, they were four times more likely buy a Reese's product manufactured by Hershey during the same Hershey during the same shopping trip. Yet Reese's puffs or any of the extensions, we're talking chips ahoy, Reese's, we're talking the ice creams. None of that is featured on Reese's.com not even a peep. So what I run into, especially when I'm wearing Reese's Swag, is people are not aware of all the different products. Most people are aware of Reese's pus, but they forget about that. But they don't. They're not aware of the ice cream, the cakes, the cookies. There's. They're just not aware of it. And cupcakes. And so it's interesting that none of that is featured, none of these extensions. And by the way, we're over a billion dollars in global retail sales of licensed Reese's products.

[A]

So there's a tightly controlled narrative around the. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

But what's interesting from Hershey's standpoint, when they're dealing with somebody that wants the license, the Reese's name it. The Reese's brand is so successful that it can't be a small mom and pop shop. It has to be a substantial corporation that has the means to manufacture at scale. Because this is what's going to happen. You're going to. You're going to need a bigger. What do you call it in shark jaws? A bigger boat. You're going to need a bigger plant. So, so there's. It's interesting that the licensed products, as long as they keep the signature Reese's taste, I'm all for that. But if, if you're. The. The products are made by Hershey are no longer keeping the taste, then you can imagine what's going to happen to the extensions and it's just going to become a mess.

[A]

Well, might run into a situation where some of the extensions are actually upholding some of, you know, the original recipes or the integrity or things like that. And then Hershey's is going to find themselves behind the eight ball on it.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Operationally, you know, you would think when you bring on the extensions and you, you have to, you know, you run through a checklist or quality standards or things like, like you're gonna hold your licensees to a certain degree or you cut them off.

[B]

So we'll hold them to a stricter standard than you do yourself.

[A]

Right.

[B]

With your own products that you manufacture. Because there's no standards now. There's no standards that receive.

[F]

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[C]

That's one of the fixes that I would think of, you know, if we're gonna get to that point, I'm sure we are. I would say one fix is really important is to putting some governance around the Reese's recipes and setting up like a Reese's Heritage review.

[E]

Great.

[C]

You know, so any ingredient changes on Reese's branded products triggers a cross functional, check legal cx, brand the family, on whether the name, packaging and marketing still match reality and then publish, you know, and I think, Brad, you've kind of already done this in your own way, but like a short, like Reese's manifesto on the site that will, that these are the things that will never change. What might change and how they'll tell you when it does. It's clear and there's transparency there. It's just not a PR line, but it's a standard operating procedure and rule and telling the truth. I mean, I think you can do that by like standardizing the language on anything. Using the compound. Right. Using chocolatey candy with peanut butter cream. Right. Not just Reese's, not just using your name and then having the consumer assume that that's real chocolate and it's real peanut butter. And also maybe, you know, this is the age of QR codes, Erin. We've talked about that a little bit. But you know, having a comparison QR code on the back that would say this is what was in the original recipe, this is what is in now. Turning that into like an informed choice. To your point, Brad, people are still going to buy it regardless of whether it's waxy or not. But let's, let's be clear, that's what you're doing. And then I think, you know, one of the things about Brad, you were asking about the peanut butter versus peanut butter cream. And I think that one of the things they've said is that the cream is a little more pliable because it's not peanut butter. So it allows for like different forms and the different shapes that people love, you know, at different times of year. But really maybe thinking about again going back to like the heritage or legacy or signature brand, Aaron, that you were talking about, you know, branding it in a way that you can roll back to a couple of those fan favorite shapes with the original ingredients. And to keep the price competitive, you might have to do what companies are doing across the board. When you go to the grocery store, you know, you buy a box of cereal, it's half full now, right. So maybe it's a little smaller, but it's got the original ingredients. Right. And you can't Maybe do all the little cutesy our hearts and things like that because the peanut butter is hard to shape it. But you know, I, I mean, who, who knows? Let. Let the consumer have a clear choice and let them pick from that. Reese's original versus the new Reese's.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I believe, I believe Hershey is misdirecting you with. Is more pliable. Okay? The peanut butter, it's all about profit. Okay? This, this thing about over the peanut butter cream is more. Oh, we can use it in more shapes and so forth. It's all bunk. That is total bunk. I'm telling you right now. It's total bunk. It's gumming up their machines, okay. In their factory, which used to work with real peanut butter. Okay, so this, this, that is more plausible. No, it's causing them production headaches, okay? They're doing it strictly to squeeze every pen again. They're stooping for the pennies and passing up the dollars because they're using all these code words. That's more plausible and we can make better shapes and. But it's all. They're just making more money and cheapening the ingredients. And so it's a good way to explain it that our fans are demanding innovation. And by the way, Aaron and Melissa, I'm totally for innovation, but I'm for quality. Quality innovation.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Innovation that erodes the ingredient structure of Reese's. That's not innovation. That's cost engineering.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What it is.

[A]

Completely.

[B]

It's not innovation.

[A]

Yeah, well. And I love what, I don't know if you've been following what Burger King's been doing, but they, they've done studies and people of the Whoppers haven't been what they used to be and they've been listening and they're about to relaunch the Whopper. And I'm excited about like, just again on the sidelines, I'm like, good for you.

[B]

Like, I love juke Whoppers. Whoppers. I love them.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. And it feels very like we're with you on this as opposed to this moment with Reese's where, you know, we haven't had that, that open dialogue moment of. Look, you're right, you know, you, you, you called it out. Your taste buds called it out. Let's. Let's get real. And number one, let's, let's, you know, call it for what it is. Yes. Cocoa prices, shortages, changing consumer trends, overextending product, whatever. It was like, you know, there, there's a perceivable shift in quality here's what we're doing about it, you know, and it's a moment. Or they could say, like, Burger King, you're going to come with us. You're going to be. You're going to taste test three variations. You're going to taste it. You know what I mean? Like, uh, yeah, it could be a little bit of Pandora's box, because the consumer starts saying, well, I don't like that one. Or that doesn't taste right either. You know, Then. Then what do you do about that?

[B]

But, yeah, so there's quality. Back in the 60s, we came out with Reese's scotches. And Reese's. Reese's Scotches was. Rather than using milk chocolate as the coating, we used a butterscotch coating. And so it was delicious.

[A]

Sounds great.

[B]

You know what? It had the scotch, the Scottish colors on the wrapper, Reese's Scotches. It was delicious. So, you know, it's like Melissa and Aaron. If you guys were out on a sailboat, you. You ventured off course.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The wind was blowing, and it took you off course. So now you got. You need to turn around the sailboat. You need to start tacking and doing your maneuvers to get back on course. Well, Hershey has the opportunity to. Okay, we got off course. We ventured, you know, we ventured into uncharted territory. We didn't really know we made a mistake, and now we're tacking the. The ship back to get back to the course that we were on and admit that. That now we're taking corrective action. So that would be excellent. I mean, Melissa, do you think that that would help?

[C]

I do. I think that. I think whenever someone is off course, it's important to map out where you need to go. I think that, like, it's been such a. It's been such a really interesting conversation that we've had today. I mean, Brad, you've been able to bring such a, like, strong perspective of what's going on. And I think that we've talked many times, Erin, about profit and what it means and how it kind of blindsides companies. And I. I don't even say blindsides companies. That's. That makes it sound like you're not prepared for it. I blinds companies. They don't. They can't see anything else. And so I really love the fact that, you know, you've been able to kind of bring that to the table for us, Brad, and really kind of talk about, like, where Reese's has really come from and how, you know, your protection of the legacy and. And also Your understanding. I mean, I feel like it's not like you don't understand that things need to change and things need to grow, but there's ways to do it that can protect that legacy. And I think that's the thing that's so frustrating is that it feels like the Hershey's company in general has just been trying to pull a fast one on everybody, and that doesn't feel great. And so that's one of the things that, you know, I think they have. They have hundreds of people who work in marketing and communications and brand. Brand loyalty and. And customer experience. Right. And so, like, those folks, like, you know, instead of hiding under the blanket, like, what are they doing about this? And I. I think you're opening up this whole dialogue. You're opening up, you know, questions. People are finally, like I said to you, I'm like, oh, so I'm not crazy that the taste is different, you know, And I just really, like, again, thank you for that perspective. But I also think from an operational perspective, from where I'm sitting, I look at this as not very different than a lot of companies who have kind of gone through this. And to Aaron's point, you'll. You're seeing a shift with certain brands who are saying, oh, my gosh, you know, this is what we have to do to kind of regain that customer loyalty. And when customers go, I. When companies go against the grain so violently, you know, so, like, crazy. I mean, this outrageous. It's about taste. It's like, it just feels really, you know, like that can't be a good business decision. But obviously they've looked at the data. They've decided. I mean, you know, we've talked about a lot of different companies on this podcast, and they've all done things that have really fundamentally driven them away from what their core mission and value set has always been, and yet they somehow survive. And to your point, Brad, people will still buy it. And that's. That's what's kind of, you know, kind of a frustrating juxtaposition of the entirety.

[F]

Yeah.

[B]

And my police show that Hershey believes that their products are still going to sell. I mean, that's what they, you know, they've got all the data and so forth, and they're a very smart organization. And so that's what's so, you know, remarkable about this decision, is it's. I mean, they're. Like you said, they have thousands of people. Their food scientists are par. None. I mean, they're really. So there are people in Hershey Fighting to keep the standards of chocolate. Okay. Using real milk chocolate and using real peanut butter. There are employees that are there, but they're being overwhelmed and they're not winning against the cost engineers who do nothing but refine and refine and refine and squeeze every. And of course, those go to the CEO and that's going to push up their earnings per share. And he gets paid tens of millions of dollars by hitting those eps. You know, it's the short term incentive for this. To think leadership of the Hershey company that's led to these decisions. Yeah, this is not long term. And this. And you could make so much money just keeping the taste this, the taste, historical taste of Reese's is so much money to be made. It's, it's mind boggling. And if they just would concentrate on the quality and bringing back the, the taste, historical taste, sensory taste of Reese's, they would make so much money again. They're stooping for pennies and passing up the dollars. And you guys nailed it there. Have lots of opportunity to turn the ship around. Yeah, it's an aircraft carrier, so it's not going to turn on a dime. But to start. And one of those is becoming transparent and admitting that the customers didn't demand innovation of. The innovation of removing milk chocolate and putting compound coating is an innovation that was demanded by the consumer. That's. I mean, do you believe that? I mean, Hershey's basically applying that.

[A]

No, because everyone's telling them the opposite. They're saying, we don't, we don't like this. And the voices are just going to keep getting louder and louder and the company can keep, do, you know, profit squeezing and doing what they want. But if you get to the point where you cut into a Reese's and there's one peanut sitting there, or a puff of air comes out, like, you know, no one's going to like that. So is that the Almond Joy instead

[B]

of the Almond Joy almond? You'll have a peanut butter cup with a single peanut.

[A]

One peanut.

[B]

The rest is cream. The peanut butter cream.

[C]

Oh, brat special.

[A]

Yeah. All right, we're, we're, we're fixing this. So here's what we're gonna do. First of all, listen to Brad. I mean, thank you, Brad, for telling us all we're not crazy and being a champion for everyone who loves this brand and saying just, you know, just bring it back. Like, it's not that hard. There's ingredients. We all, like, put them, put them back where they came from and we'll all Just say thanks. There's, there's a moment of the company to have that back that really just heartfelt moment to say maybe we lost our way, maybe that, you know, we, we agree with you. We love this product too as we love it as much as you do. We're bringing it back. Why can't we all. They could do that pretty quickly operationally. So let's do that and then make that the new baseline standard. Maybe it costs a little more because everything costs more. But what are you going to do? I love the HB Reese, the signature line or the original line as a premium or an experimentation type of product or opens unlocks the Reese's brand up to unexpected brand partnerships and non Hershey's ingredients. And I think that's, that's genius. I would love to see that come to market. So I'm all on board on that and even if it's not the answers we want to hear tomorrow. But there's admission of mistakes or there's admission of look, here's the market factors that we want to let you in on or here's our 18 month roadmap toward quality preservation, whatever. Just have those conversations. But having all of it behind non transparently where we don't know what's, what's even happening and, and getting, getting brought into this discussion behind, behind a carefully guarded response that's not even addressing Brad, what you've brought to the table, that's not going to cut it. We're not happy.

[B]

Is this Reese family turmoil?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Some Reese from Reese family member support what we do. And so Brad Reese is just his opinion.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

And he's by the. Well, it's not my opinion. It's labels. It's verifiable labels. It's not opinion.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But it's, you know, they're trying to make it, they're trying to switch the narrative that this is a personal, this is a family dispute and yes, there is a family dispute.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But that doesn't, that's not the, the subject. It's not the issue. It has nothing to do with what they've done to the ingredients.

[F]

Right.

[B]

Okay. We reach family members that agree with the Hershey company and say yeah, squeeze every last penny out of the product. Okay. And they're. And they're reach family members and I still love. They're my family.

[E]

But.

[B]

And there's others like me who, who believe that, you know, the taste is the key.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And you know, I'm not trying. I mean they're saying they're Speaking my grandfather would be very. HB Reese would be very happy no longer having milk chocolate and real peanut butter in you. And that's their belief. And I'm like, great. You know, but I think that also what Aaron and Melissa, you guys have kind of touched on is what is the competition going to do this Hershey, I think, has opened up a huge, I mean, like a, I mean they might have had a dam with a few cracks.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, companies. One example, the vice president of Hershey who ran all 20 of the global plants in Hershey has bolted to Justin's peanut butter cups. What does that tell you? He starts in a week or two at. Which is owned by Hormel in Austin, Minnesota. But still, Justin is a up and coming competitor. And the guy who ran all the plants for, for the Hershey company, all 20 plants, is now their vice president supply chain.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

At just peanut butter cups.

[A]

Yeah. What does that know? Right? The Poppy, the soda brand, they just had a Super bowl commercial because they kept at it and they kept investing and now they're. They have a seat at the table where maybe they didn't have to. If, you know, if the soda companies innovated and, and didn't open themselves up to a market opportunity.

[B]

I think Feastables Peanut butter cups. I think Feastables peanut butter cups. I met with Mr. Beast on Sunday in person up in North Carolina and I think what they're doing with the opening they've been given with their, their feast, Feastables Peanut Buttercups, which, by the way, are very good. I mean, it's a worthy competitor. Definitely very good. But they're going to make hay. They are going to take big. Take this opening and, and, and because it's a once in a lifetime opening for other peanut butter cup competitors to, to address the Reese's ingredient issue. So, yeah, Hershey's opened up their competition to. They're, they're on the what the, the firing line or what do you call it?

[F]

They're.

[B]

They're. Everybody's going to be. After going after them. Yeah. You know, and Aldi's with their peanut butter cups and Trader Joe's.

[F]

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[B]

Hear that?

[A]

That's now crispy and McCrispy strips meeting creamy Caesar sauce sounds extra Crispy caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time. Right. Well, that's what I heard this past week when I've been talking with people about this, you know, this situation, they've been saying, well, have you tried this other one? It's actually pretty good. So, yeah, along with the undercurrent of dissent, there's this undercurrent of new loyalty.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's betrayal. Yeah.

[B]

Reese's. Reese's has betrayed its loyal fans. And when you betray your. I mean, I'm betrayed. Everybody's betrayed. So you're going to look for replacement.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So again, Hershey's done it to themselves. It's mind boggling. Like thousands of executives who do nothing but marketing and panels, tastes and, and all the, all the, and AI and all the stuff they use. How could they have done this? Yeah, it's like what broke there is that, is that pursuit of the dollar overtaking common sense. It looks like it.

[A]

Well, Melissa, I'll ask you first if, you know, if they switch, get very open and transparent about the narrative. Admit wherever mistakes were made that they were made, wherever swap outs were made that people, consumers pointed out and said, we don't like this about you. We used to like this about you. The fix is simple. Bring it back. If they bring it back and they do it in a way that like, similar to Burger King's doing where they say, we hear you. We're going to absorb some costs on it. We want to make this right. We're going to do it as quick as possible in a, in a, in a responsible way. And let's return the original line to, you know, to, to the standard you're used to. You, you're, you're, you, you've come to expect from us for years, decades. And then we come, you know, we do like a signature line and we watch for the extensions and make sure they're all representative and they all carry out the value, the, the quality and, and each, each one like. I agree, Brad. There's the, there can never be enough. If they're good, bring it on. You know, if we follow those, you know, that, that kind of process or did we fix this? Do we make it better?

[C]

I think we've provided some fixes. I think even going further is the idea I had based on some of the conversations that we've had today. But like, putting governance around the recipes, setting up, like a Reese's Heritage committee. I don't even know what we want to call that, but a review. So any ingredient changes can be very clearly communicated if that's going to be what's happened and agreed upon. I love the idea of the signature or the original line, because I do know that Hershey's. It's about profit. I get it. And there are a lot of people who might not care.

[E]

Right.

[C]

Customers that don't care, but I do think that they have that ability because there's so many people that have the nostalgia for the original. You see a lot of different brands going back to that, like, oh, this is the original. You know, Levi's. You know, this is the original. All the. All the kind of original types of things. And I really feel like Reese's has that opportunity. And I do also think that there is a need to keep your eye on the competitors, to see how they're kind of. How they're kind of flooding the market. Because I think to Brad's point, like, you have to look to the future and know that now you've opened the floodgates, and so you really have to kind of make a stance. You know, you really have to make a stance. And I do love the idea of, like, you know, going back to the original, but also being innovative about that and finding really great partners who stand with what Reese's really is all about and the heritage of recess. So I hope that Hershey's and some of those 400 executives. Brad, that you were speaking of. Thousands of executives.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Listen to our podcast and listen to what we have to say, because I don't think it's just us raising the flag. It's about, you know, how do you make it work? And as a lover of Reese's for a very long. All my life, I hope that they will listen.

[A]

Yeah, same Brad, if, you know, I know there's a lot of history here, but if tomorrow, if her. She said, brad, you're right. We hear you. We're doing everything you're asking us to do, starting now. Does that. Does that help? Does it diffuse the situation? Are we on a better track? Yeah.

[B]

Then I can go from protecting Reese's brand integrity to growing Reese's Worldwide one peanut butter cup at a time. So I pivot immediately. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I would be right there. But as it is right now, I can't go along with the swapping out the ingredients that they've done. And you pointed out that the opportunity is still there. And I'm really not have any expectations that they will address it. I really don't expect them to, unfortunately. But as was Glenn Beck, who had me on. On the radio. On his radio, he said. He said Reese's represents the United States. It's a heritage brand. And if Reese's is no longer Reese's, what else is no longer in our country? It's becoming almost a patriotic thing, like it's Americana. I mean, if Reese's can no longer be Reese's, then what else in our society is no longer sacred? I mean, the taste of Reese's is actually sacred to Reese's fans.

[A]

It is.

[C]

It is.

[D]

To me.

[F]

It is.

[A]

Well, maybe we can do some good here. We're putting it out there in the world that, you know, Hershey's would do a lot better with you as the, you know, global ambassador and spreader of goodwill and opening these doors than as a detractor. That's just saying what we're all thinking. So we'll push things in the right direction.

[B]

I could switch horses real quickly.

[A]

Oh, that's true.

[B]

Real quickly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I'm not bound. Why, you know, but it. It really is disappointing. So disappointing. And I just, you know, I think. Thank you very much, Melissa and Aaron, for your encouragement and support.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This is. It's so important to me that you guys are doing this because unless. Unless the Reese's fans speak up.

[C]

Right.

[B]

The Hershey company is. I think they're listening. I mean, they have to now, don't they? I mean, I would assume so. And so if you just read my. Com. Just read the comments to my. To my LinkedIn posts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It is funny.

[A]

It is.

[B]

It is stunning.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The amount of upset people are. The comments are just. It's. The frustration is so unbelievable.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they all thought it was just them is, you know, my taste buds changing. And my wife used to love them. She no longer has them. No longer eats them. And we couldn't figure out why. And some people actually saying they get sick now when they eat Reese's for whatever reason. Okay. So I mean that. Who knows? But, you know, the point I'm trying to say is that the comments. There's nobody saying yes. I'm so relieved they got rid of milk chocolate.

[E]

Right.

[B]

And they use it.

[A]

Right. Yeah. This is.

[B]

Cody. No one's saying that there's no.

[A]

No controversial counterpoint. They taste better now, actually, guys. Yeah. What are you talking about on the other side? Hey, you're agreeing. I've seen. Yeah, well, this is an evolving story. Of course. Before we go, I'd like to give a ton of appreciation to Brad Reese for joining us during this very busy time. We're going to keep watching the story unfold. Before you go, Brad, give everyone your website and let's, you know, your LinkedIn. How can we track along with you?

[B]

Well, just, you know, just go to Google, type in Brad Reese. Yeah, I'm not the rancher. I'm not the wreck. I'm not the guy that was on Survivor.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I. I'm, I'm. But, yeah, Bradrees.com. but if you just go to Google or any search and type in Brad Reese. Um, I'm not the rancher on the Survivor. I'm the other Brad Reese in Florida at the beach.

[A]

You're the guy wearing that. They're wearing the Reese's swag.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I'm. I'm the. I'm the one wearing the Hawaiian Reese's shirt. But, yeah, so I really, truly appreciate everything that you guys are doing to bring attention to the ingredient sh. Shift. And hopefully Hershey will pay attention. Hopefully Hershey will dress it where

[F]

if

[B]

I'm not satisfied, hopefully most of the Reese's fans will be satisfied. I mean, I'm 70. I'm on my way out. So it's the future generations that need to be good with this. And so hopefully Hershey will make it appealing for Reese's fans going forward, the younger generations to enjoy it. And what's interesting, though, is Hershey is really pushing what they call better for you. And better for you is, like, with their skinny pop popcorn and dots, pretzels and lesser evil. But it's interesting that they're saying they're. They're building a better for you portfolio yet. The flagship brand, Reese's, they're doing worse for you. So they're making the better for you and they're snacking. But in Reese's, it's worse for you by degrading the ingredients. I mean, it's just your brain.

[D]

Just go,

[A]

well, we're here for their side of the story, too. If they want to come on with us, we'll mediate. You know, we'll create some good in real time, too. So they, like I said, this is going to be out there. They can respond and listen and do what they're going to do next. And like, you know, between all of us, Brad, you've got the. You've got the most influence, so.

[B]

Well, the ball's in their court.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, why not play? I mean, they're. Hershey, for Christ's sakes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Come on. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're, you're an American institution.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The mark. Hershey, Pennsylvania.

[A]

Come on, Hershey.

[B]

Yeah. It's balls in your court. Take it, run with it, and, and, and deal with it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I wouldn't be shy. If I were them. I would definitely be on your show.

[A]

Don't be shy. No. Come on, Hershey. Well, thank you, Brad. Thanks, Melissa. All of you listeners can catch our past [e-mail] that's wefixeditpod.com we'll have a new one for you next week, maybe with Hershey. We'll see. Until then, stay original and we will see you next time. We hope you enjoyed this episode of We Fixed It.

[D]

You're welcome.

[A]

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