Friday, 12 March 2010
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Got Sweet Tooth: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup History
You're currently snacking with... Mounds Reese's Peanut Butter Cups more candy to be added later... 
How do you eat your Reese's? Harry Burnet Reese was a dairy farmer working for Milton S Hershey but he didn't much care for it. So in the 1920s, the PB king left the good Mr Hershey to begin building his own line of candy perfection which would become a household name in the years to come.That's when Reese started H.B. Reese Candy Company. From that he started candy lines such as the Johnny Bars and Lizzie Bars...but he only had mild success with those. And while things were starting out okay, booming sales were not in the immediate forcast, even with the amazing peanut butter cups we have today.
But Reese was inspired by Hershey's success and he wasn't going to give up. Good ol' Reese.
During the mid-1920s, he sold them as five-pound boxes for use in other candy assortments. but come ten years later he started to see the possibilities of selling them for a penny a piece. A penny! Today we're paying nearly a dollar for them!However, during the second World War, resources hit everyone hard, even grown candy makers and bakers. Deciding to focus solely on his peanut butter cups, Reese cut back on all his other lines and continued to grow his own slice of the chocolate kindom.
Even as war raged in the world, Reese would not be defeated, and through careful planning and selling strategies, his candy creation grew in popularity in the 40s and 50s. So much so that by the mid 1950s, he was able to buy a 100,00 square-foot plot of land on which to build a specially automated facility to handle the increase in demand. In August of 1957, standing on Chocolate Avenue in Hershey, Penn (no, seriously, that's really where it was built), the Reese Candy Company, Inc, began it's increased opperations...just a couple of blocks away from his old employer's production facility - Hershey Chocolate Co.
Hershey's then later bought Reese's for a chocolaty $23.5 million. But they still keep the original orange, brown and yellow colored packaging. Hershey's seems to know a good thing when they see one. I'm glad.
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Comments (7)
But you forgot the part where Reese was talking a walk one day and observed two clumsy people bump into each other, one with a jar of peanut butter, the other with a bar of chocolate. Reese observed: "Hey.... you got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" and "Hey, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" They both sampled the occurrence, and MMmmmmmmMMMmmmm...... history was born that day. lol
Very nice! I like learning the history of things...even candy! And good job on the location of the company, my aunt visited the Hershey plant the last time she visited one of my uncles. On the way back from Maryland, she went there...and it really is called Chocolate Ave! You should do a post on M&M's...she went to the M&M factory in Vegas 2 years ago and now her room is filled with relics from that place! She is an avid collector, and even has the M&M official Nascar jacket! (If you need help on the M&M post...I'll ask my aunt!)
is that a statue you're playing chess with in your profile pic?
That's interesting! Very informative. :0)
I love Reese's!
@Happily_Married_Guy - :P I didn't forget...I just didn't come across any historical data for it. Although I did see the commercial reference for it on Wikipedia. LOL
@highlandgypsy - Definitely ask your aunt. I want more source options than simply what Hersheys.com has to offer.
@getthesensation - YUP! Taken several years ago. But it was a rather dull game. The guy was always thinking and the pieces were glued to the board. Nothing ever came of it.
@ccarothers - You're in luck then! I have 39 others to write about. LOL
@overly_toasted_bread - I knew you were my bro for a good reason. :D
You mean the commercial isn't true? I'm shocked! lol... imagine, something on TV that isn't true?