April 24, 2026 • 21 mins
If you haven’t heard about the KitKat heist and the Reese’s family controversy, you’re in for a treat. In this fun-sized episode, Anney and Lauren cover some developing candy news.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of Ihearted You know.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Anny Reece and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have a short episode for you about various drama that's
been going on in the corporate candy world.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yes, yes, it is fun and exciting for us, not
for perhaps the entities involved.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, because reading about large heists and chocolate family contention
is great when you're not involved.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yes, and we are not involved.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
No, no sponsors, nope, ye, nope. And even though your
last name is Reese, you are not that we have
been able to prove as of yet, no connected to
the Reese's family. But yeah, So if y'all haven't heard
dang but Hershey has been going through it, we somehow
(01:08):
have never done an episode on that company in general,
so you cannot go see that. But we are going
to be talking about kit Kats and Reese's brands, so
you can see our episodes on those from February of
twenty nineteen and October of twenty twenty, respectively. We've also
done a whole episode on food crime that was a
great one, yes, and one about pershudo fraud specifically, and
(01:35):
that was also very intense.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It really was.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh I love it. Yes, yes, But so both of
these are like news items that are being updated. So
we've got this coming to you from the afternoon of Tuesday,
April twenty first of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yess could change. Oh yeah, I yeah, I'll talk about it.
But I was making sure right before we started that
things had not changed drastically.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
We put together this outline.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, and I realized that I hadn't checked and it
was slightly panicked, said Annie, Annie, have you checked.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
What's happening with the Kitkats? I did check, but yes,
let us talk about what's happening with the kit.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
With the Kitkats.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yes, so recently, listeners, you may have seen a KitKat
truck surrounded by a cavalcade of black SUVs for security,
and we are going to break down why that is.
On March twenty sixth, twenty twenty six, four hundred and
thirteen seven hundred and ninety three units are around twelve
(02:50):
tons of the newly introduced F one Kitcat candies shaped
like race cars. We're stolen along with the truck carrying
them while in transit from a factory in Italy to Poland.
The truck was intercepted en route by folks masquerading as
law enforcement. The driver was removed and restrained, and the
(03:11):
people impersonating law enforcement drove off with the truck. No
one was injured, and as of recording I checked today,
the truck nor the merchandise has been located neither.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah. So yes, twelve tons of F one race car
shaped Kitcat bars.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yes, yes, And that's important because the shipment was not
publicly disclosed, and because the popularity of Formula one has
really exploded across Europe in a lot of places, really,
but Europe, especially those investigating, think that this was a
heist hatched with knowledge of when the company would be moving.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
These insider knowledge. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yep. KitKat became the official candy bar of F one
in twenty twenty five, so this was more than a
little embarrassing for them. They were being shipped to align
with a certain race.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, yeah, oh man, what a bummer.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
What a bummer? What a bummer? And also I'm sure
for them a bummer. This has produced a lot of
excellent memes, but they've tried to roll with the punches
and have released some public statements that I think are
pretty funny. Yes, so from Nesley quote, We've always encouraged
(04:46):
people to have a break with KitKat, but it seems
thieves have taken the message too literally and made a
break with more than twelve tons of our chocolate. Whilst
we appreciate the criminal's exceptional taste, the factor may that
cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,
with more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis.
(05:08):
We have chosen to go public with our own experience
in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly
common criminal trend. The company also warned about the possibility
of these kit cats showing up on the black market,
and reiterated that they could be traced if a law
enforcement found them in the package.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, because they're stamped with you know, like a little
serial number of like what batch they are, right, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So they launched an online tool called the Stolen KitKat Tracker,
asking people to help them locate the missing candy. So
if you found one, you scanned the little cereal.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Bar, Yeah, if you have in fact purchased I don't
know whether they were ever for sale in the US anyway,
or but I also don't know where you're listening from.
So yeah, if you have purchased or received an F
one shaped KitKat, yes, you can go to the Stolen
Kitcat tracker and check.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
You could be a hero. Yes, So from time quote,
a customer can go to the web page and then
type in the eight digit batch number on the back
of their candy bar. When the customer hits enter, the
website will say whether the Kitcat is one of the
four hundred and thirteen seven hundred and ninety three candy
bars that were stolen. This is this is a real heist.
(06:32):
I'm serious business, y'all.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I recently started watching the TV show Leverage for the
first time, and I feel like this this is a
plot line made for me in this moment. Anyway. Also,
in the aftermath of all of this, KitKat stepped up
security for some of their other large shipments, and yes,
in Canada, this means that security escorts in the form
(06:58):
of black suv envoys accompanied Easter candy from Kitcat to stores.
It's a little bit silly marketing push a little bit serious.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
The vehicles had little KitKat flags atop their windows like
a presidential motorcade. From a press release from the company,
we are not sorry for slowing down traffic. We are
actually unapologetic for getting you a kit cat delivered safely
to a store near you.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Wow, it was a very striking photo.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Oh yeah, it's really funny.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
It's beautiful. Yes, you know, so questions Yourmaine, why why
the theft is because of the popularity of Formula one
and the perceived scarcity of products like this in general.
It kind of reminds me of our when we did
pop born buckets and we were talking about Disney popcorn bucket. Yeah. Yeah,
(08:03):
but it is interesting to me that, at least from
my brief Google search before this, no one's even turned.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
In a single one.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah. And you know, a lot of the memes were like,
what are you gonna do with twelve tons of kids?
What is this? What?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah? Is it just chaos? Is it like when the
Joker gets a million dollars and just burns it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Right? I mean are you diving through it like Scrooge
McDuck I or is it for resale value? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Oh yeah, I don't know either. But as you mentioned this,
this did happen before Easter, which is one of the
biggest candy days of the year. And yeah, it was
somewhat of a marketing plot. It was the cavalcade of
like security trucks, but they were also yeah, they were
playing into this whole idea kit cats are precious cargo
(08:56):
and we're taking this seriously. Yeah. Yeah, and it was
very memified. So if you would like to look up
the memes, they are there for you.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Oh, certainly, okay, And our next half of this corporate
candy drama episode has to do with Reese's. But before
we get into that, we're going to get into a
quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So the Riese's thing. If you haven't heard about this one,
and Annie certainly has because of her last name, people
do text her about this whenever something about the brand occurs.
On Valentine's Day of this year, a grandson of the
guy who created Reese's peanut buttercups posted this open letter
online to Hershey about how their Reese's products suck now
(10:05):
because they're using these cheap, inferior ingredients. Stepping back just
a little bit briefly. Again, you can see a whole
episode about this, but Reese's entire like chocolate and peanut
butter shtick was invented in nineteen twenty eight by one
Harry Burnett or HB. Reese, who got his starting candy
(10:29):
working for Hershey, but had his own company at the
time of the invention. After his death in the fifties,
his kids wound up selling Reese's brand to Hershey in
the sixties. At the time of his grandfather's death, Brad
Reese was just a baby, but he grew up with
(10:49):
his family's sale of the brand very much discussed amongst
themselves and in the news. You know, he was living
in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The whole thing very much made an impact,
and after a number of other business ventures over the
course of his lifetime, over the past several years, he's
really taken it upon himself to be like an unofficial
(11:09):
brand ambassador for Reese's.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Like he's just like out there.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Wearing Reese's merch and whenever anyone talks to him about it,
he like gets selfies with them and tells them facts
about the company's history, and like talks up different products
and to be clear, he has never worked for her.
She this is entirely hobby status, like he's just out
there doing this. But so, leading up to Valentine's Day,
Brad apparently picked up a bag of one of Reese's
(11:37):
seasonal products. These these little heart shaped peanut butterfilled chocolates
that are individually wrapped, you know, like bite sized little things. Sure,
and Brad found them inedible. He threw them out and
proceeded to write this like four hundred words SmackDown on LinkedIn,
addressed directly to one of Hershey's brand manager. Uh yeah, dude, yeah,
(12:08):
I know, right, like tagging him and her. She threw
out the text love it, love it, and Okay. So
if you look at the label of the product in
question and compare it to that of standard Reese's peanut
butter cups, you start to see Brad's problem. The standard
(12:28):
cups are labeled with the words milk, chocolate, and peanut butter.
The Hearts package, on the other hand, specifies that it's
chocolate candy filled with peanut butter cream, which are both
shined up industry ways of saying that you have not
included enough chocolate or peanut butter to just call it
those things, and Brad Brad was mad, unhappy. Here's a
(12:54):
quote from the piece. My grandfather H. B. Reese, who
had invented Reese's, built Reese's on a simple, enduring architecture
milk chocolate plus peanut butter, not a flavor idea, not
a marketing construct, a real tangible product identity the consumers
have trusted for a century. But today Reese's identity is
(13:17):
being rewritten, not by storytellers, but by formulation decisions that
replace milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with
peanut butter style creams across multiple Reese's products. He goes
on to call the issue a brand governance question and
(13:37):
imply that like the Reese's brand's good name is being
diluted by this candy malfeasance.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Wow, did not hold back, No, no, sir, And okay,
I will say that that we witness this kind of
product move.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I'm not necessarily going to say dilution, but maybe that's
what I mean. We witness this all the time, especially
with these mega manufacturers, because you know, like as economic pressures,
including investor pressures, squeeze a company, you know, you start
to look for ways to gain your profits, and there's
all kinds of things. You can look at efficiency, energy, packaging, transport,
(14:28):
marketing and advertising, and of course the product itself. So
when you look at that, okay, what can you do?
You can raise the price to consumers, which generally isn't popular.
You can keep the same price per package and lessen
the amount of product that's actually in it, also not popular,
(14:51):
but a little bit more under the radar. The example
that always pops into my mind is when Hogandaws retooled
their pint packaging to appear to be the same size
but to contain only seven eighths of a pint of product.
Still mad about it, to be honest. Or you can
switch to using cheaper ingredients. And that third one right
(15:16):
there is what Brad Reese is accusing the company of
Hershey's statement on the whole thing is that like, look,
the actual Reese's peanut buttercups are still made the same
high quality way they always have been, and that they
do play with the formula in developing other treats in
order to do whatever they're trying to do with the
(15:36):
texture and the format and everything that is their official statement,
but you know, like we can sit here and go like, well,
all right, like is the result good or is it
kind of crap? And furthermore, can we believe them when
they imply that they're not doing this as a cost
cutting measure but as something for funzies? Yeah, hard to say,
(16:04):
hard to say, but okay. Since all of this went
down on Valentine's Day. A month and a half later,
at Hershey's March thirty first Investor Day event, the company
did address this to their investors, like kind of obliquely,
they said that over the next year, into twenty twenty seven,
(16:25):
they're going to be working on quote ensuring that all
Hershey's and Reesi's offerings are consistent with their brand's classic
milk and dark chocolate recipes. What this actually means is
being interpreted in various ways in the press.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
The press is really run with this story.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I have to Oh, they have they are eating it up,
no pun intended. Oh my goodness. The whole thing has
also apparently caused some contention within the Reese family, which
has some like one hundred and eighty living members today.
It was a lot arch family and yeah, there are
family members on both sides of the divide.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
What yeah, oh wow, Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I don't know. I I tend to shy away
from a lot of the like especially seasonal chocolatey type treats,
because yeah, I'm kind of like, oh, that's not quite chocolate. Like,
I don't know, I do like really dark chocolates most
of the time, or like a high quality milk chocolate.
So this kind of thing, I don't know, it's not
(17:34):
what I would go support to you. Yeah, yeah, I'm like,
oh yeah, I clocked that a while ago.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, Valentine's Day chocolate is kind of not really that good.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah yeah, but but yeah, yeah. I guess we'll have
to wait for any more developing information about whether they
actually do start reformatting or or retro formatting some of
their recipes In the meanwhile, though, shout out to Greg Roselski,
(18:07):
writing for NPR's Planet Money, who who called brad Reese
uh scion of the chocolate comma peanut butter dynasty. Wow, yeah, yeah,
it's really the cut. He didn't write chocolate comma peanut
butter like literally like there's a there's just the punctuation
(18:27):
mark in there, but earnestly it is the comma that
sets me off. I mean, scion of the Chocolate Peanut
Butter Dynasty is already a really powerful statement. But yes,
for some reason, the ap style comma just gets me.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
It's a dramatic comma. It's it makes you take pause. Yeah,
I appreciate the power of the words you're reading. Yeah, well,
I will be really interested to see where Brad Reese
land in the future. Is he going to become like
(19:08):
the anti Reese?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Like maybe we don't know?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Fascinating stuff. What a dust up?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah? And how that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I hope, I hope that we will have updates for
you at some point. You know, some of some of
these heists, you know, they never get solved, or if
they do, it's like years down the line.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah. Well, listeners, if you find one of those kit cats,
you know what to do. I'm so yeah, I want
to know what happened to them. I'm just curious what
happened to them. Yeah, but yes, we will as these
stories unfold. I'm sure we will.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Have updates, absolutely, But that I believe is what we
have to say about both of them for now.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yes, we would love to hear from you listeners, though,
if you have any thoughts, any opinions about Reese's and
their varying qualities of candy types. Yeah, please let us know.
You can email us at Hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
We're also on social media. You can find us on
Instagram and blue Sky at savor pod and we do
hope to hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
(20:53):
we hope that lots more good things are coming your
way
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of Ihearted You know.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Anny Reece and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have a short episode for you about various drama that's
been going on in the corporate candy world.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yes, yes, it is fun and exciting for us, not
for perhaps the entities involved.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, because reading about large heists and chocolate family contention
is great when you're not involved.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yes, and we are not involved.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
No, no sponsors, nope, ye, nope. And even though your
last name is Reese, you are not that we have
been able to prove as of yet, no connected to
the Reese's family. But yeah, So if y'all haven't heard
dang but Hershey has been going through it, we somehow
(01:08):
have never done an episode on that company in general,
so you cannot go see that. But we are going
to be talking about kit Kats and Reese's brands, so
you can see our episodes on those from February of
twenty nineteen and October of twenty twenty, respectively. We've also
done a whole episode on food crime that was a
great one, yes, and one about pershudo fraud specifically, and
(01:35):
that was also very intense.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
It really was.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Oh I love it. Yes, yes, But so both of
these are like news items that are being updated. So
we've got this coming to you from the afternoon of Tuesday,
April twenty first of twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yess could change. Oh yeah, I yeah, I'll talk about it.
But I was making sure right before we started that
things had not changed drastically.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
We put together this outline.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, and I realized that I hadn't checked and it
was slightly panicked, said Annie, Annie, have you checked.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
What's happening with the Kitkats? I did check, but yes,
let us talk about what's happening with the kit.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
With the Kitkats.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yes, so recently, listeners, you may have seen a KitKat
truck surrounded by a cavalcade of black SUVs for security,
and we are going to break down why that is.
On March twenty sixth, twenty twenty six, four hundred and
thirteen seven hundred and ninety three units are around twelve
(02:50):
tons of the newly introduced F one Kitcat candies shaped
like race cars. We're stolen along with the truck carrying
them while in transit from a factory in Italy to Poland.
The truck was intercepted en route by folks masquerading as
law enforcement. The driver was removed and restrained, and the
(03:11):
people impersonating law enforcement drove off with the truck. No
one was injured, and as of recording I checked today,
the truck nor the merchandise has been located neither.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah. So yes, twelve tons of F one race car
shaped Kitcat bars.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yes, yes, And that's important because the shipment was not
publicly disclosed, and because the popularity of Formula one has
really exploded across Europe in a lot of places, really,
but Europe, especially those investigating, think that this was a
heist hatched with knowledge of when the company would be moving.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
These insider knowledge. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yep. KitKat became the official candy bar of F one
in twenty twenty five, so this was more than a
little embarrassing for them. They were being shipped to align
with a certain race.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, yeah, oh man, what a bummer.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
What a bummer? What a bummer? And also I'm sure
for them a bummer. This has produced a lot of
excellent memes, but they've tried to roll with the punches
and have released some public statements that I think are
pretty funny. Yes, so from Nesley quote, We've always encouraged
(04:46):
people to have a break with KitKat, but it seems
thieves have taken the message too literally and made a
break with more than twelve tons of our chocolate. Whilst
we appreciate the criminal's exceptional taste, the factor may that
cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,
with more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis.
(05:08):
We have chosen to go public with our own experience
in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly
common criminal trend. The company also warned about the possibility
of these kit cats showing up on the black market,
and reiterated that they could be traced if a law
enforcement found them in the package.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, because they're stamped with you know, like a little
serial number of like what batch they are, right, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
So they launched an online tool called the Stolen KitKat Tracker,
asking people to help them locate the missing candy. So
if you found one, you scanned the little cereal.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Bar, Yeah, if you have in fact purchased I don't
know whether they were ever for sale in the US anyway,
or but I also don't know where you're listening from.
So yeah, if you have purchased or received an F
one shaped KitKat, yes, you can go to the Stolen
Kitcat tracker and check.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
You could be a hero. Yes, So from time quote,
a customer can go to the web page and then
type in the eight digit batch number on the back
of their candy bar. When the customer hits enter, the
website will say whether the Kitcat is one of the
four hundred and thirteen seven hundred and ninety three candy
bars that were stolen. This is this is a real heist.
(06:32):
I'm serious business, y'all.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
I recently started watching the TV show Leverage for the
first time, and I feel like this this is a
plot line made for me in this moment. Anyway. Also,
in the aftermath of all of this, KitKat stepped up
security for some of their other large shipments, and yes,
in Canada, this means that security escorts in the form
(06:58):
of black suv envoys accompanied Easter candy from Kitcat to stores.
It's a little bit silly marketing push a little bit serious.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
The vehicles had little KitKat flags atop their windows like
a presidential motorcade. From a press release from the company,
we are not sorry for slowing down traffic. We are
actually unapologetic for getting you a kit cat delivered safely
to a store near you.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Wow, it was a very striking photo.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Oh yeah, it's really funny.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
It's beautiful. Yes, you know, so questions Yourmaine, why why
the theft is because of the popularity of Formula one
and the perceived scarcity of products like this in general.
It kind of reminds me of our when we did
pop born buckets and we were talking about Disney popcorn bucket. Yeah. Yeah,
(08:03):
but it is interesting to me that, at least from
my brief Google search before this, no one's even turned.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
In a single one.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Yeah. And you know, a lot of the memes were like,
what are you gonna do with twelve tons of kids?
What is this? What?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah? Is it just chaos? Is it like when the
Joker gets a million dollars and just burns it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Right? I mean are you diving through it like Scrooge
McDuck I or is it for resale value? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Oh yeah, I don't know either. But as you mentioned this,
this did happen before Easter, which is one of the
biggest candy days of the year. And yeah, it was
somewhat of a marketing plot. It was the cavalcade of
like security trucks, but they were also yeah, they were
playing into this whole idea kit cats are precious cargo
(08:56):
and we're taking this seriously. Yeah. Yeah, and it was
very memified. So if you would like to look up
the memes, they are there for you.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Oh, certainly, okay, And our next half of this corporate
candy drama episode has to do with Reese's. But before
we get into that, we're going to get into a
quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So the Riese's thing. If you haven't heard about this one,
and Annie certainly has because of her last name, people
do text her about this whenever something about the brand occurs.
On Valentine's Day of this year, a grandson of the
guy who created Reese's peanut buttercups posted this open letter
online to Hershey about how their Reese's products suck now
(10:05):
because they're using these cheap, inferior ingredients. Stepping back just
a little bit briefly. Again, you can see a whole
episode about this, but Reese's entire like chocolate and peanut
butter shtick was invented in nineteen twenty eight by one
Harry Burnett or HB. Reese, who got his starting candy
(10:29):
working for Hershey, but had his own company at the
time of the invention. After his death in the fifties,
his kids wound up selling Reese's brand to Hershey in
the sixties. At the time of his grandfather's death, Brad
Reese was just a baby, but he grew up with
(10:49):
his family's sale of the brand very much discussed amongst
themselves and in the news. You know, he was living
in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The whole thing very much made an impact,
and after a number of other business ventures over the
course of his lifetime, over the past several years, he's
really taken it upon himself to be like an unofficial
(11:09):
brand ambassador for Reese's.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Like he's just like out there.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Wearing Reese's merch and whenever anyone talks to him about it,
he like gets selfies with them and tells them facts
about the company's history, and like talks up different products
and to be clear, he has never worked for her.
She this is entirely hobby status, like he's just out
there doing this. But so, leading up to Valentine's Day,
Brad apparently picked up a bag of one of Reese's
(11:37):
seasonal products. These these little heart shaped peanut butterfilled chocolates
that are individually wrapped, you know, like bite sized little things. Sure,
and Brad found them inedible. He threw them out and
proceeded to write this like four hundred words SmackDown on LinkedIn,
addressed directly to one of Hershey's brand manager. Uh yeah, dude, yeah,
(12:08):
I know, right, like tagging him and her. She threw
out the text love it, love it, and Okay. So
if you look at the label of the product in
question and compare it to that of standard Reese's peanut
butter cups, you start to see Brad's problem. The standard
(12:28):
cups are labeled with the words milk, chocolate, and peanut butter.
The Hearts package, on the other hand, specifies that it's
chocolate candy filled with peanut butter cream, which are both
shined up industry ways of saying that you have not
included enough chocolate or peanut butter to just call it
those things, and Brad Brad was mad, unhappy. Here's a
(12:54):
quote from the piece. My grandfather H. B. Reese, who
had invented Reese's, built Reese's on a simple, enduring architecture
milk chocolate plus peanut butter, not a flavor idea, not
a marketing construct, a real tangible product identity the consumers
have trusted for a century. But today Reese's identity is
(13:17):
being rewritten, not by storytellers, but by formulation decisions that
replace milk chocolate with compound coatings and peanut butter with
peanut butter style creams across multiple Reese's products. He goes
on to call the issue a brand governance question and
(13:37):
imply that like the Reese's brand's good name is being
diluted by this candy malfeasance.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Wow, did not hold back, No, no, sir, And okay,
I will say that that we witness this kind of
product move.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I'm not necessarily going to say dilution, but maybe that's
what I mean. We witness this all the time, especially
with these mega manufacturers, because you know, like as economic pressures,
including investor pressures, squeeze a company, you know, you start
to look for ways to gain your profits, and there's
all kinds of things. You can look at efficiency, energy, packaging, transport,
(14:28):
marketing and advertising, and of course the product itself. So
when you look at that, okay, what can you do?
You can raise the price to consumers, which generally isn't popular.
You can keep the same price per package and lessen
the amount of product that's actually in it, also not popular,
(14:51):
but a little bit more under the radar. The example
that always pops into my mind is when Hogandaws retooled
their pint packaging to appear to be the same size
but to contain only seven eighths of a pint of product.
Still mad about it, to be honest. Or you can
switch to using cheaper ingredients. And that third one right
(15:16):
there is what Brad Reese is accusing the company of
Hershey's statement on the whole thing is that like, look,
the actual Reese's peanut buttercups are still made the same
high quality way they always have been, and that they
do play with the formula in developing other treats in
order to do whatever they're trying to do with the
(15:36):
texture and the format and everything that is their official statement,
but you know, like we can sit here and go like, well,
all right, like is the result good or is it
kind of crap? And furthermore, can we believe them when
they imply that they're not doing this as a cost
cutting measure but as something for funzies? Yeah, hard to say,
(16:04):
hard to say, but okay. Since all of this went
down on Valentine's Day. A month and a half later,
at Hershey's March thirty first Investor Day event, the company
did address this to their investors, like kind of obliquely,
they said that over the next year, into twenty twenty seven,
(16:25):
they're going to be working on quote ensuring that all
Hershey's and Reesi's offerings are consistent with their brand's classic
milk and dark chocolate recipes. What this actually means is
being interpreted in various ways in the press.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
The press is really run with this story.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I have to Oh, they have they are eating it up,
no pun intended. Oh my goodness. The whole thing has
also apparently caused some contention within the Reese family, which
has some like one hundred and eighty living members today.
It was a lot arch family and yeah, there are
family members on both sides of the divide.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
What yeah, oh wow, Oh.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, I don't know. I I tend to shy away
from a lot of the like especially seasonal chocolatey type treats,
because yeah, I'm kind of like, oh, that's not quite chocolate. Like,
I don't know, I do like really dark chocolates most
of the time, or like a high quality milk chocolate.
So this kind of thing, I don't know, it's not
(17:34):
what I would go support to you. Yeah, yeah, I'm like,
oh yeah, I clocked that a while ago.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, Valentine's Day chocolate is kind of not really that good.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah yeah, but but yeah, yeah. I guess we'll have
to wait for any more developing information about whether they
actually do start reformatting or or retro formatting some of
their recipes In the meanwhile, though, shout out to Greg Roselski,
(18:07):
writing for NPR's Planet Money, who who called brad Reese
uh scion of the chocolate comma peanut butter dynasty. Wow, yeah, yeah,
it's really the cut. He didn't write chocolate comma peanut
butter like literally like there's a there's just the punctuation
(18:27):
mark in there, but earnestly it is the comma that
sets me off. I mean, scion of the Chocolate Peanut
Butter Dynasty is already a really powerful statement. But yes,
for some reason, the ap style comma just gets me.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
It's a dramatic comma. It's it makes you take pause. Yeah,
I appreciate the power of the words you're reading. Yeah, well,
I will be really interested to see where Brad Reese
land in the future. Is he going to become like
(19:08):
the anti Reese?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Like maybe we don't know?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Fascinating stuff. What a dust up?
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah? And how that? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
I hope, I hope that we will have updates for
you at some point. You know, some of some of
these heists, you know, they never get solved, or if
they do, it's like years down the line.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah. Well, listeners, if you find one of those kit cats,
you know what to do. I'm so yeah, I want
to know what happened to them. I'm just curious what
happened to them. Yeah, but yes, we will as these
stories unfold. I'm sure we will.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Have updates, absolutely, But that I believe is what we
have to say about both of them for now.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yes, we would love to hear from you listeners, though,
if you have any thoughts, any opinions about Reese's and
their varying qualities of candy types. Yeah, please let us know.
You can email us at Hello at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
We're also on social media. You can find us on
Instagram and blue Sky at savor pod and we do
hope to hear from you. Savor is production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
(20:53):
we hope that lots more good things are coming your
way
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
Popular Podcasts
Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb
Joy is essential. And it's also elusive. You can't order it, borrow it, or simply hope it into life. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence: The Joy 101 Podcast with Hoda! Best known for her Emmy-winning work and co-anchoring Today, Hoda Kotb infuses her authenticity, curiosity, and warmth into conversations with the world’s most fascinating people. Entertainment legends, sport icons, wellness experts, and everyday folks will share how they find, allow, and experience joy. Hoda will offer her own tips and takes on seeking a more balanced, harmonious life. If you're craving inspiration, support, and useful tools to maximize your joy, tune in to these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Joy after a breakup, joy as an empty-nester, joy after loss, joy as a caretaker — Hoda's new podcast will speak to you. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb, an iHeartPodcast.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com