Kiss controversy solved: Hershey says tips will return to chocolate candies

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

After scores of holiday bakers expressed disappointment that Hershey’s Kisses they purchased had no tips, Hershey said Thursday the manufacturing problem that left its candies tipless has been solved.

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Hershey took notice of the outcry over tipless Kisses in December and looked into the problem. An update finally came on Thursday.

"We looked at the entire Kiss manufacturing process, and we made some adjustments to shaping the tips to allow us to have greater consistency," Hershey CEO Michele Buck told CNBC.

Buck didn’t specify what about the manufacturing process was causing the error, or say why it took as long as it did to fix the issue. But she said Hershey values the feedback it received, and assured consumers that “changes have been made to prevent further disappointment.”

One of the earliest reports of the tipless Kisses came Dec. 3 when Debbie Krivoniak Sheetz, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, was making peanut blossom cookies, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. She noticed the Kisses she purchased to top the cookies had no tips, and wasn't impressed with what a customer service representative told her when she called to report the problem.

Sheetz posted about her frustration on the Facebook group, The Wedding Cookie Table Community.

"After giving the bar code (on the package) to the women on the phone, she comes back with 'Oh yes, Hershey has cut the tip off of all of these milk chocolate kisses because they only break off in transit.' Seriously?" Sheetz wrote.

Many other posts and tweets lamenting tipless Kisses followed.

"Extremely disappointed with @Hersheys Kisses," read one tweet from Taylor Roberts. "I opened a new bag today to make peanut butter cookies this NYE, and every single tip is broken off."

Now, some have taken to Twitter to say they’re glad the tip debacle has been solved.

"Hershey solves its Kisses missing tips problem. I don't know about you, but I'm relieved," tweeted user Marena Bronson.

Due to the volume of candy the company manufactures, Hershey said the improved Kisses won’t hit shelves for another few months.

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