Peeps Continue as an American Icon Through the Decades

As Just Born celebrates its 90th anniversary and the 60th anniversary of its iconic Peeps candy, 10 years is little more than a single yellow Peep on a life-size Big Bird. That is, the Big Bird made out of 3,810 Peeps by the Mondor family, which was created for the 2013 annual Carroll County Arts Council “Peep Show” fundraiser. The “Long Live Sesame Peep” display, which also includes Oscar the Grouch in his trash can, now holds a place of honor in the lobby of Just Born.

Peeps is the company’s premier brand, holding a place in the hearts of marshmallow lovers and non-lovers alike. “The Peeps brand is really iconic. It’s probably the most emotive brand I’ve ever seen,” said Technical Services Manager Analee Johnson. Although Peeps were, and are, produced as a consumable product, Vice President of Technical Services Rich Milker added, “People use this candy, this food, like no other candy or food there is. It has always had a cute, playful appeal.”

With Peeps still made on the same depositer on which they were first produced, there has been little change in the production or character of the original yellow chicks over the 60 years, except some movement from hand creation to automation (as detailed in QA’s Cover Profile on Just Born in August 2008). But there have been extensive additions to the product lines—with shapes and colors for all seasons; the company’s newest chocolate embellishments “on, in, and all around”; and testing of new flavors, including bubble gum and party cake.

A Cultural Icon.
“If you are ever bored, YouTube ‘Peeps,’” Milker said. “There is a huge base of people who love Peeps—and love playing with them.” Or you could visit one of the Peeps & Company stores, the first of which opened in National Harbor, Md., in 2009, with additional stores opening since at Minnesota’s Mall of America and in Bethlehem, Pa., the home of Just Born. With everything from tastings of the company’s latest candies to T-Shirts with Peeps of many colors that read “We’re all the same on the inside” (one of the company’s biggest sellers), and phone cases featuring a pink Peep and “One hot chick,” the stores provide a “4D” Peeps experience, Milker said. “The brand makes people smile—even people that don’t like marshmallow. There’s just something special about the brand, and we’ve only just begun with Peeps.”

90 Years Young.
As the company celebrates its 90th anniversary, its dedication to the original core values of workplace safety, product quality, protecting the environment, and employee satisfaction are evident not only in the consumer love of its candies, but in the eyes of its employees.

In March, Just Born was one of only two large food and beverage manufacturing companies in the U.S. to be named a Top 5 Workplace, based solely on employee feedback on a national employee survey. “It starts with the owner and includes everyone in the operation,” Johnson said. “It is so much the culture. We believe the greatest assets of our organization are our brands and the people who nurture and build them.” 

As the company continues into the future, Johnson and Milker expect it to simply continue following its tagline to “Express Your Peepsonality.” That is, Milker said, “We’re always challenging ourselves to continue delivering great value,” which, because it is so subjective, “is such a difficult thing to crack the code on.”

But one code the company will continue to crack is that of variation. “We’ll continue to stretch, continue to build our portfolio,” and continue to strive to crack the vast array of U.S. holidays as it has Easter, especially Christmas which is similar to Easter in terms of consumer candy buying. “We own Easter,” Johnson said; and with almost of 274,000 “likes” on its Peeps Facebook page, it’s not a stretch to anticipate that over the next decade, the company could “own” a few more holidays.