The Hershey Co. mentioned Tuesday that Reese’s Plant Primarily based Peanut Butter Cups, which go on sale this month, might be its first vegan candies bought nationally. A second plant-based providing, Hershey’s Plant Primarily based Additional Creamy with Almonds and Sea Salt, will observe in April.

The candies are made with oats as a substitute of milk, Hershey mentioned.

Hershey has experimented with vegan chocolate earlier than. It bought an oat-based chocolate bar known as Oat Made in some check markets beginning in 2021. However the brand new merchandise would be the first bought all through the U.S. underneath the “Plant Primarily based” label.

Hershey mentioned customers need selection and are on the lookout for merchandise they take into account more healthy or with fewer components, together with decreased sugar and plant-based choices. Hershey additionally launched an natural model of Reese’s Cups in February 2021.

Youthful customers, particularly, want to cut back consumption of animal-based merchandise, says Euromonitor, a market analysis agency. In a 2021 survey, Euromonitor discovered that 54% of Era Z customers had been proscribing animal-based merchandise from their diets, in comparison with 34% of Child Boomers.

Nestle has bought its KitKat V, a vegan KitKat bar, in Europe since 2021, whereas Cadbury sells a vegan chocolate bar in the UK. However to this point, U.S. vegan chocolate choices have usually been restricted to premium manufacturers, like Lindt, or natural chocolatiers like Hu Kitchen.

Hershey mentioned it developed plant-based variations of Reese’s Cups and Hershey bars __ a few of its hottest merchandise __ as a result of there’s a dearth of mainstream plant-based candies within the U.S. market.

The plant-based variations will value extra. Hershey wouldn’t share particulars as a result of it mentioned retailers set last costs. However Ceremony Help lists a 1.4-ounce package deal of two plant-based Reese’s Cups at $2.49; that’s about $1 greater than customers would pay for a daily package deal. Hershey expenses an identical premium for natural variations of its Reese Cups, which went on sale in 2021.

And ditching the dairy gained’t reduce energy. Whereas Hershey didn’t launch the entire dietary details, the 1.4-ounce package deal of plant-based Reese’s Cups have 210 energy; that’s the identical variety of energy as a 1.5-ounce package deal of conventional Reese’s Cups.