Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Harry Burnett Reese, a former employee of the Hershey Chocolate Company, founded the H. B. Reese Candy Company in 1917 near Hershey, Pennsylvania. Reese experimented at first with molasses and coconut candies called “Johnny Bars” and “Lizzie Bars.” In 1928 he came out with chocolate-covered peanut butter cups made with Hershey’s chocolate, which were sold wholesale in five-pound packages to be used in boxed candy assortments. Ten years later, Reese marketed the confections individually for a penny apiece, and they became known as “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.” The public loved the candies, and Reese expanded his factory and became the second largest buyer of chocolate in the United States. During World War II, shortages of sugar and chocolate prompted Reese to discontinue his other sweets to concentrate on the peanut butter cups, since peanut butter was not rationed. After the war, the Peanut Butter Cup’s popularity was such that the company constructed an even larger facility in 1957.