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Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups has an interesting history, from a failed venture to America’s top-selling candy bar.
The origin of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups can be traced back to H.B. Reese, a former Hershey employee. He was known for his persistent innovation in candy making.
He set out to start his own candy business but failed. After unsuccessful ventures with chocolate-covered almonds and raisins, Reese returned to Hershey’s shipping department. However, he would continue in his basement with candies named after his children.
These early failures provided Reese with chocolate-making knowledge that culminated in 1928 with the creation of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
This new candy bar was a fusion of milk chocolate with peanut butter.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups became an instant hit with consumers.
Reese was quickly able to convert his small basement operation into a thriving business.
Originally sold for just a penny during the Great Depression (1929-1939), Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups became a cheap treat for cash-strapped Americans.
This “penny per cup” approach helped the company survive financial challenges and gave it a large foothold in the candy market.
It also helped that the candy featured premium Hershey’s chocolate—a quality advantage Reese explicitly marketed with his “Made in Chocolate Town” slogan.
During World War II, sugar and chocolate faced strict rationing. However, peanut butter remained unrestricted.
By 1942, H.B. Reese discontinued all other candy in his lineup to focus exclusively on peanut butter cups as they required fewer rationed ingredients, and it was his number-one selling product.
The pivot allowed the company to optimize production via automation while meeting civilian and military demand. This move established Reese’s market dominance.
H.B. Reese Candy Company was sold to The Hershey Company in 1963.
After H.B. Reese’s death in 1956, his six sons managed the business until orchestrating a tax-free stock merger with Hershey. The deal was valued at $23.5 million!
By 1969, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups became Hershey’s best-selling product—a position it maintains to the modern day.
In 1982, Reese’s Pieces became linked with E.T. through pure chance.
The story goes that Mars rejected Spielberg’s offer to feature M&M’s in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Hershey seized the opportunity with their new Reese’s Pieces candy.
Hershey invested $1 million in promotional tie-ins, creating one of cinema’s most iconic product placements.
After the official cinema release—Reese’s Pieces sales jumped 65-300%.
In 2007, The Hershey Company released the Reese’s Elvis Cup, which paid tribute to Elvis Presley’s favorite sandwich combination by adding banana crème with banana flakes beneath traditional peanut butter filling.
The product’s packaging featured Elvis imagery and supported an instant-win promotion offering Elvis-themed prizes.
Despite positive reception for its true banana flavor, the limited-edition treat was discontinued that same year.
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup has inspired a rivalry of supersized proportions.
Nick Monte of Vermont’s Village Chocolate Shoppe first captured attention in the early 2010s with his 230-pound Peanut Butter Cup measuring 60 inches across—using 70 pounds of milk chocolate and 159 pounds of peanut butter.
Not to be outdone, Los Angeles confectioners later doubled the record. They crafted a 444-pound Peanut Butter Cup in a kiddie-pool-sized mold.
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