Peeps

Peeps are a marshmallow confection produced by candy maker Just Born since 1953 for sale the United States and Canada in the shape of chicks, bunnies, and other animals, as well as holiday shapes, with themes revolving around Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. Peeps were the earlier creation of the R. E. Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster, PA, and were offered for sale as early as 1948.

Long promoted primarily at Easter, Peeps have subsequently been marketed as "Always in Season", and have expanded to Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day. Since 2014 the confection has been available year-round with the introduction of Peeps Minis.

Peeps ingredients include sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, food dyes and salt.

History

R. E. Rodda Candy Company

The R.E. Rodda Candy Company (347 Church Street, Lancaster, Pennsylvania) was founded in 1908, capitalized at $300,000 by financiers from Baltimore, New York, Cincinnati and several Pennsylvania cities. Roscoe E. Rodda (1862-1941), a Board of Directors member and its first president, had previously managed candy manufacture in Detroit and Cincinnati. By 1915 the firm was shipping high-quality products nationwide and to South America and Europe.

By the 1930s-40s, its products included chocolates, hard candies, jelly beans and "jelly eggs". It is uncertain when manufacture of marshmallow items began, but by 1948—and previous to any association of the product with Sam Born or Just Born—Pennsylvania retailers were selling "Rodda marshmallow peeps" or "Rodda Easter peeps".

Though Just Born took over manufacture in 1953 and developed speedy, mechanized production, the product was retailed nationally for decades in the U.S. as "Rodda Marshmallow Peeps" or "Rodda Easter Peeps", retaining the Rodda name into the mid-1990s.

Just Born

Peeps are presently produced by Just Born, a candy manufacturer founded in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by an immigrant from Vinnitsa in the Russian Empire (now in Ukraine), Sam Born (1891–1959).

In 1953, Just Born acquired the Rodda Candy Company and its marshmallow chick line. Sam's son, Bob Born, replaced the painstaking process of hand-forming the chicks with mass production in 1954. When founder Sam Born displayed a sign for his freshly made candy, he titled it "Just Born", playing off of his last name and the fact that he made his candy fresh daily. According to Mary Bellis, the newly purchased company, Just Born, was soon the "largest marshmallow candy manufacturer in the world".

Just Born began producing other shapes in the 1960s, following seasonal themes. Twenty years later, the Marshmallow Peeps Bunny was released as a popular year-round shape of the candy. The yellow chicks were the original form of the candy — hence their name — but then the company introduced other colors and, eventually, the myriad shapes that are now produced. Peeps were manufactured in different colors, such as lavender starting in 1995 and blue in 1998. Prior to that, they were only being produced in the traditional colors: yellow, pink and white. New flavors such as vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate were introduced between the years of 1999 and 2002.

In 2003, the Peeps Fun Bus conducted a tour across the country to promote the brand. The tour included giveaways and games and was decorated with a giant Peep on the top of the bus.

In 2009, Just Born expanded the Peeps product line further by introducing Peeps Lip Balm in four flavors: grape, strawberry, vanilla, and cotton candy. Just Born has come out with several other various accessories. Items such as nail polish, wrist bands, umbrellas, plush toys, golf gloves, earrings, and necklaces are produced and sold online and in retail stores. Other companies have produced items based on the popular Peeps candy. Peeps micro bead pillows were made by Kaboodle and conform to one's shape. The company Kaboodle promises that "they'll last a lot longer than their edible counterpart!" Ranging from infant sizes to adult sizes, Peeps Halloween costumes can also be found on the shelves of several costume stores. The first Peeps & Co. store opened in November 2009 in National Harbor, Maryland, Prince George's County. Peeps & Company retail stores were later opened in Minnesota (as of 2019, shut down due to low profits) and Pennsylvania. In 2014, Peeps Minis were introduced, and were intended to be available year-round.

In 2023, Bob Born, a son of the Just Born founder, died at age 98. He was known as the "Father of Peeps" for automating the production of Peeps.