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Peter Paul
From humble Armenian immigrant roots to coconut smuggling, this is the untold history of how Almond Joy and Mounds became kings of the coconut candy bar.
Peter Paul Halajian arrived in America as an Armenian immigrant in the early 20th century. Peter Paul started working at a Naugatuck rubber factory. On the side, he sold traditional Armenian homemade candy at train stations.
1919: Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company
In 1919, he joined five other Armenian immigrants to found the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company in Connecticut. Their first products used Peter Paul’s initial recipes.
1929: Mounds
The company bought the Mounds brand in 1929. It was originally created by Vincent Nitido and consisted of dark chocolate and shredded coconut.
1934: Dreams Bar (Almond Joy)
Almond Joy was created in 1934, but it was originally called Dreams Bar and was composed of milk chocolate, nuts, and coconut.
By the 1930s, Peter Paul became the world’s largest importer of coconut. The company processed over 100,000 pounds of candy daily, requiring an enormous supply of tropical coconut. It was particularly hard as the company’s location was in Connecticut, thousands of miles from coconut-growing regions.
During World War II, Japan’s occupation of the Philippines severed Peter Paul’s primary coconut supply chain, threatening production. To avoid this, the company created the “Flea Fleet”—seven small wooden boats that transported coconuts from the Caribbean and had to evade German U-boats. The move supplied the coconuts needed for Mounds and Dreams bar production and provided key intelligence to the U.S. Navy during the war.
1944: Mounds Go To War
By 1944, the United States military had incorporated Mounds into combat rations, purchasing 80% of the company’s total production. About five million bars were shipped every month to American soldiers worldwide. The dark chocolate coating on Mounds also had the added benefit of not melting in tropical climates, making them ideal in the Pacific theater.
The military’s massive consumption of Mounds forced Peter Paul to discontinue other candy bars in his lineup.
1956: Indescribably Delicious
In 1956, Peter Paul ran a contest seeking the best two words to sell Mounds. Leon Weiss submitted the phrase “Indescribably Delicious” and won a modest prize of $10 for his contribution.
The slogan proved so effective that the company filed a trademark application in 1964, claiming first use from June 15, 1956. The slogan has appeared on Mounds packaging for over 65 years.
1977: Sometimes you feel like a nut
Peter Paul launched an ad campaign with the jingle: “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. Almond Joy’s got nuts, Mounds don’t.” Written by composers Leon Carr and Leo Corday and performed by Joey Levine, this catchy tune first aired in January 1977.
The campaign positioned the two candy bars as complementary rather than competitive. TV commercials paired the jingle with humorous visual gags of people acting nutty (like an equestrian riding a horse backward).
1978: Cadbury-Schweppes
Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company was merged with Cadbury-Schweppes in 1978.
1988: The Hershey Company
In 1988, Hershey purchased the United States rights to Cadbury’s chocolate business for $300 million.
The acquisition included Mounds, Almond Joy, York Peppermint Patties, and Cadbury-specific products like Dairy Milk and Caramello. Hershey maintained a distinctive packaging and marketing approach, preserving the blue color scheme for Almond Joy and red for Mounds.
In the 2000s, Hershey launched limited-edition flavor variations for Mounds and Almond Joy.
These included:
2007: Pulling out of Connecticut
In 2007, Hershey closed the historic Naugatuck, Connecticut plant where Mounds and Almond Joy had been produced for generations. At the time, the 250,000-square-foot facility operated at only 40% capacity, making it economically unsustainable.
Production moved to a more modern facility in Stuarts Draft, Virginia, ending nearly 85 years of production in Connecticut.
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