Hershey is attempting to get ahead of the game by giving their chocolate the vegan treatment. The company announced that Reese’s Plant-Based Peanut Butter Cups will be its first vegan chocolates sold nationally, with the Hershey bar following shortly behind.
This isn’t the first time that the chocolate brand has experimented with vegan chocolate. It sold an oat-based chocolate bar called Oat Made in some test markets starting in 2021. But the new products will be the first sold throughout the U.S. under the “Plant Based” label.
The Hershey chocolates are now being made with oats instead of milk, which makes the products vegan. The Reese’s Plant-Based Peanut Butter Cups will be going on sale later this month and the second plant-based offering, Hershey’s Plant-Based Extra Creamy with Almonds and Sea Salt, will follow in April.
Hershey said consumers want choice and are looking for products they consider healthier or with fewer ingredients, including reduced sugar and plant-based options. Younger consumers, in particular, are looking to reduce consumption of animal-based products.
The company decided to develop plant-based versions of Reese’s Cups and Hershey bars because there’s a major lack of mainstream plant-based chocolates in the U.S. market. It’s likely that the plant-based versions of the chocolates will cost more but Hershey has yet to share its pricing.