Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company

The Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company is a candy-making division within the Hershey Company. It was originally founded in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1919 by six Armenian immigrants led by Peter Paul Halajian, with a manufacturing plant in nearby Naugatuck, Connecticut.

The company's first product was the Konabar, consisting of chocolate-covered coconut, nuts, and fruit, which was fairly successful. In 1920, they purchased the rights to Knight's Knifty Knibbles, owned by Anita Grace Knight of Plainfield, New Jersey, and in 1921, introduced the renamed Mounds candy bar, which featured white sweetened coconut and dark chocolate.

Despite constant efforts to automate production and cut costs, the Great Depression threatened the $200 million U.S. candy market, and in 1932, they took a risk, retooling and repackaging Mounds in cellophane rather than tin foil for better sales appeal, and doubling the product’s size, making it a twin bar for the same five-cent price. The gamble worked, and within 30 days, sales zoomed. In 1934, the company built a $60,000 addition to the Naugatuck plant and invested still more in new machinery to meet demand, using earnings to pay for expansion without incurring debt. In 1934, the company introduced a new product, the Dreams candy bar, named by students participating in a contest at Naugatuck High School. It consisted of diced almonds and coconut covered with dark chocolate, becoming the forerunner of the Almond Joy bar. In February 1935, after increasing wages by as much as 20%, the company’s stock split two for one, becoming a sensational story carried nationally by the Associated Press. Bucking the national trend, the company paid stockholders continuous quarterly dividends throughout the Depression.

During World War II, despite sugar and coconut shortages, Mounds became a hit with the U.S. military, which purchased 80% of their production by 1944 (5 million bars/month) for use in rations. It also sold caramels and charcoal gum during the war because they used little sugar.

The Almond Joy bar was introduced in 1948, using milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate, and adding a double-toasted almond on top, sold in a blue package to differentiate it from the Mounds' red package, becoming an immediate success

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