Hershey’s Is Making Changes to the Kit Kat Recipe and More of Its Chocolates

Spring has sprung, and we’re now knee-deep in the season of new beginnings. Flowers are gently starting to bloom, trees are budding, and the world suddenly feels a little, shall we say, refreshed. Strangely, this is reflected in the food world, too; in the last month or so, we’ve seen a lot of companies announce that their recipes are a’changing. And we mean a lot. We’ve had Burger King saying it’s changing its Whopper, and its onion rings. We’ve had Wendy’s rejig its Spicy Chicken Sandwich. We’ve had Little Debbies getting a makeover. And we’ve had Five Guys maybe, maybe, changing its fries. 

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Now? It’s Hershey’s turn. The chocolate company has just announced that it’s changing its recipe for Kit Kats. We’re…a little curious about how this is gonna shake out. Here’s what’s happening.

Less Artificial Stuff, More of the Good Stuff

In a statement shared with abc27 News, The Hershey’s Company said that it would be updating its Kit Kats to make them more palatable and improve their texture, and also giving some of its other products a glow-up. “We’re transitioning to colors from natural sources across our sweets portfolio, enhancing Kit Kat’s recipe for a creamier taste and texture, and bringing a small portion of remaining Hershey’s and Reese’s products in line with their classic milk and dark chocolate recipes,” it said. 

Said “small portion of remaining Hershey’s and Reese’s products” is not clear just yet – but what it did state is that it wouldn’t be touching the recipe for its Hershey’s chocolate bars and Reese’s peanut butter cups. It also didn’t say exactly how it would be improving Kit Kats, and what new ingredients or ratios it would be using. Hopefully, it doesn’t drop the ball on this one. 

More Money = Better Flavor

Along with its announcement that it’d be changing some of its products, The Hershey’s Company also stated that it would be increasing its R&D budget by 25%, “to fund talent, technology, and nutrition science across our growing portfolio of confection, salty snacks, and functional snacking brands.” The “nutrition science” aspect of all this is important: Candy and fast food companies have been in a state of change of late, in a bid to make their products healthier and less reliant on additives, preservatives, and artificial ingredients. 

While it isn’t a direct response to Hershey’s founder H.B. Reese’s grandson, Brad Reese, and his statements earlier this year about how the company is straying away from its identity, it’s hard to ignore the correlation between that moment and these changes. The big question, though, is whether Hershey’s sticks the landing? We’re still a big fan of Kit Kats (our favorite seasonal flavor, the Lemon Crisp, was just at Dollar Tree, and we were very happy about it), so we can only hope that they don’t become unrecognizable. We need our chocolate!