H. B. Reese

Inventor and businessman

• Born: May 24, 1879
• Birthplace: York County, Pennsylvania
• Died: May 16, 1956
• Place of death: West Palm Beach, Florida

Also known as: Harry Burnett Reese

Significance: H. B. Reese was a businessman of the early twentieth century, best known for the creation of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which remain one of the most popular candies in the world today. In 1963, the Hershey Company acquired Reese’s company. Hershey’s continues to produce the top-selling Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which generates more than $2 billion in sales annually.

Background

An only child, Harry Burnett Reese was born on May 24, 1879, on Frosty Hill Farm, in York County, Pennsylvania, to Aquilla Asbury Reese Jr., a farmer, and Annie Belinda Manifold. From a young age, Reese had entrepreneurial ambitions. In addition to raising crops and milking cows on his family farm, he built a pond to raise frogs, which he sold to restaurants in the area.

After marrying Blanche Edna Hyson in 1900, Reese sought ways to support himself and his growing family. (The couple would eventually have sixteen children.) He was aided in that effort by his wealthy in-laws. Between 1903 and 1916, he farmed, managed his father-in-law’s cannery operation, and labored as a factory worker. In 1916, however, he moved into the candy business after being hired by Milton S. Hershey, the pioneering candy manufacturer who was best known for Hershey’s chocolate bars.

Career in Candy

Reese first worked running the dairy farms that made milk for Hershey’s chocolate; he subsequently managed an experimental farm that used milking machines, which were a novelty at the time, as opposed to milking cows by hand. The latter dairy farm proved too expensive to operate, and Hershey had to let Reese go as an employee in 1919. However, Reese and Hershey had begun to form a friendship—one that would last their whole lives. Inspired by Hershey’s work ethic and friendship, Reese decided to try manufacturing candy himself, establishing his first company, R and R Candy Company, out of an old canning factory in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, in 1919. The company produced chocolate-covered nuts and raisins, among other candies. After this business failed, he found himself in a series of odd jobs, including working at a paper mill, in a butchery, and in a vegetable cannery. By 1921, he was again working for Hershey, this time in the shipping room.

While employed by Hershey, Reese continued to experiment with making candy in the basement of his home. Two candy bars he invented proved to be particularly popular: the Lizzie Bar, a caramel and coconut confection named after his eldest daughter, and the Johnny Bar, named after his eldest son. Two years after returning to work for Hershey, Reese decided to take another crack at the candy-making business—with Hershey’s permission and a handshake deal that Reese would buy all of his chocolate directly from Hershey.

The H. B. Reese Candy Company was established in 1923. At first, Reese had success with boxed assortments, which he sold in two- and five-pound varieties to department stores. By 1926, the company opened a new factory. Around 1927, Reese sought a way to capitalize on chocolate-covered peanut butter candy, which was a very popular item with customers. He began making his own peanut butter and roasting it in such a way to give it a distinctive taste. Reese then began selling his Peanut Butter Cups as part of his boxed varieties, and they were a huge hit.

Reese was not only skilled as an inventor but also as a marketer. In the late 1920s, for example, he would display the workers who were coating candy in chocolate by hand in the large windows of department stores to help make the business more visible and promote sales. He also used his large family to promote his product; one advertisement in 1928 declared “16 Good Reasons to Buy Reese’s” accompanied by a photograph of his children.

The Great Depression of the 1930s hit Reese’s company hard, but he managed to stay in business. In the early 1930s, one of his salesmen suggested he sell Peanut Butter Cups individually for one cent. The individual candies were a success, helping Reese get his business back on track financially. Later, Reese started selling his Peanut Butter Cups in three sizes, priced at one, two, and five cents. During World War II (1939–45), sugar rationing forced Reese to stop all candy manufacturing except for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, which used less sugar and were the most popular.

In the 1950s, Reese’s signature product continued to sell well, and the company was in the midst of building a second manufacturing plant when Reese died in 1956, just before his seventy-seventh birthday. Reese’s six sons took over the business, completing the factory in 1957 and eventually selling the company to the Hershey Company in 1963 for more than 666,000 shares of Hershey stock—worth about $24 million at the time.

Impact

Reese’s determination and innovation made the Peanut Butter Cup into the popular candy it is known as today. By 1969, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups became Hershey’s top seller, and the candy continued to succeed decades after its inventor died. In 2020, it generated more than $2 billion annually for the Hershey Company.

Throughout his life, Reese was well known for his generosity, both to his employees and to people in need. He paid his workers so well that they voted not to unionize. He also established a fishing lodge on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which all employees could use at the cost of a dollar a day, including room and board. During the Great Depression, even when he was struggling financially, he sought to give employment to anyone who asked for it and had a sign on a pole outside of his house inviting homeless individuals in for a meal. Reese was inducted into the Candy Hall of Fame posthumously in 2009.

Personal Life

H. B. Reese married Blanche Edna Hyson on August 1, 1900. They were married until his death in 1956. The couple had sixteen children together, thirteen of whom survived to adulthood.

Bibliography

“H. B. Reese Candy Company.” Hershey Community Archives, 7 Sept. 2018, hersheyarchives.org/encyclopedia/reese-candy-company/. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.

Lieberman, Hallie. “Was It Hershey or Reese That Made Peanut Butter Cups Great?” Atlas Obscura, 27 Oct. 2016, www.atlasobscura.com/articles/was-it-hershey-or-reese-that-made-peanut-butter-cups-great. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.

Mink, Michael. “H. B. Reese Made a Sweet Business Out of Quality Candy.” Investor’s Business Daily, 21 Jan. 2015, www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/hb-reese-got-rich-in-candy-from-peanuts/. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.

Upton, Emily. “The Fascinating Rise of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.” Business Insider, 30 June 2013, www.businessinsider.com/the-fascinating-rise-of-reeses-peanut-butter-cups-2013-6. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.