🥜 Reese’s PB Cups: From Frog Salesman to Candy Mogul | 14

Summary

The Best Idea Yet: Reese’s PB Cups – From Frog Salesman to Candy Mogul | Episode 14 Summary

Hosts: Nick Martell & Jack Crivici-Kramer
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Podcast: The Best Idea Yet by Wondery

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Introduction to Reese’s Legacy

In Episode 14 of The Best Idea Yet, hosts Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer delve into the fascinating origin story of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, exploring how HB Reese transformed from a struggling salesman into a legendary figure in the confectionery world. The episode not only narrates the creation of one of America’s favorite candies but also highlights the innovative strategies and bold risks that fueled its viral success.

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Milton Hershey and the World’s Fair Inspiration ([04:19] - [06:40])

The story begins at the 1893 Chicago World Exposition, a pivotal event that showcased groundbreaking innovations, including Milton Hershey’s impressive chocolate temple. Witnessing this monumental display inspired Hershey to pivot his caramel-focused business toward chocolate. Recognizing the complexities of chocolate production in the 1800s—where grinding cocoa beans and achieving the perfect texture required grueling manual labor—Hershey saw an opportunity. “[Milton Hershey] thinks that maybe caramel is passe, maybe taffy is too old, and maybe vanilla is vanada. Maybe the future is really chocolate,” reflects Nick Martell ([05:49]).

To streamline his chocolate production, Hershey adopted newly demonstrated machinery from the fair, which significantly reduced production time and ensured consistent quality. This technological leap, combined with strategic vertical integration—owning his dairy farms and sugar plantations—allowed Hershey to dominate the chocolate market.

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HB Reese’s Early Struggles and Joining Hershey’s ([09:22] - [13:35])

Amid Hershey’s burgeoning success, a man named Harry Burnett Reese (HB Reese) faced relentless personal and professional challenges. Living in New Freedom, Pennsylvania, HB juggled numerous odd jobs—from farming frogs to managing fisheries—to support his large family of thirteen. In a moment of desperation, HB responded to a job posting from Hershey’s, setting him on a path that would intertwine his fate with Hershey’s empire.

Upon his arrival in Hershey, HB secured a position managing the experimental Round Barn dairy farm. His dedication impressed Milton Hershey, fostering a strong mentor-mentee relationship. “[HB Reese] reminds Milton of himself. He had his own fair share of failures before he founded the Hershey company,” Jack Crivici-Kramer explains ([14:10]).

Despite initial setbacks—culminating in the closure of the Round Barn due to unreliable milking machines—HB’s resilience led him to launch his own candy venture, the R & R Candy Company. However, financial strains during the Great Depression forced HB to abandon this first entrepreneurial attempt, pushing him back into multiple jobs to sustain his family.

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The Creation of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups ([15:35] - [27:46])

Refusing to succumb to adversity, HB Reese rejoined Hershey, working in the shipping department. Here, he received Milton Hershey’s blessing to start a side hustle: making and selling candy using Hershey’s chocolate, provided HB sourced the ingredients directly from Hershey. This partnership was mutually beneficial, as HB could innovate while Hershey’s maintained a steady chocolate supply.

HB’s experimentation led to the birth of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Initially, his attempts to blend peanut butter with chocolate resulted in inconsistent shapes and flavors. However, inspired by Hershey’s success with chocolate bars, HB realized that using cup molds could standardize production and enhance scalability. “[HB] takes a page or two out of Milton Hershey’s book,” Nick remarks ([26:18]).

A pivotal moment occurred when malfunctioning roasting machines inadvertently burned the peanuts, creating a unique flavor profile. Rather than discarding the flawed batches, HB embraced the “happy accident,” perfecting the roasted peanut butter that would become synonymous with Reese’s. By September 1929, HB had honed his recipe, launching the first Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups amidst the onset of the Great Depression.

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Overcoming the Great Depression and WWII ([31:17] - [36:44])

Releasing the Peanut Butter Cups during the Great Depression was a strategic gamble. Despite economic turmoil, the affordable $0.01 price point made them an attractive indulgence. “[Reese’s] the most popular... affordable splurge during this general economic gloom,” Jack notes ([31:25]).

As the nation grappled with unemployment and rationing during World War II, Hershey’s robust vertical integration—owning sugar plantations and securing military contracts—shielded it from supply chain disruptions. Conversely, Reese’s, reliant on market-driven peanut butter supplies, faced challenges. However, the lower sugar content in peanut butter cups became an unexpected advantage, allowing Reese’s to thrive even during rationing.

A turning point came when Milton Hershey personally stepped in to reestablish HB’s chocolate credit line, providing the necessary resources to sustain production. This act of mentorship cemented the bond between Hershey and Reese, propelling Reese’s into a period of significant growth.

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Acquisition by Hershey’s and Legacy ([36:54] - [39:39])

By the mid-20th century, Reese’s had cemented its place in America’s confectionery landscape. Despite internal family conflicts among HB’s six sons managing the expanding business, the decision to sell to Hershey’s in 1963 proved transformative. For approximately $200 million (adjusted for inflation), Hershey acquired Reese’s, integrating it into their portfolio seamlessly. “[Reese’s] at one point, they're Hershey's best-selling product with more than 300 million cups sold that year,” highlights Nick ([38:57]).

This acquisition is hailed as one of the most successful in corporate history, with Reese’s outperforming many parent products and establishing itself as a cultural icon. The continued innovation and unwavering focus on quality ensured that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups remained a beloved choice across generations.

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Key Takeaways

1. Dynamic Sensory Contrast: The success of Reese’s lies in its perfect balance of contrasting flavors and textures—sweet chocolate paired with slightly salty peanut butter. As Jack explains, “The smooth sweet chocolate with the slightly crunchy, salty peanut butter... creates a tension that your taste buds love” ([31:09]).

2. Mentorship and Collaboration: Milton Hershey’s willingness to support and invest in HB Reese underscores the importance of strong mentorship and strategic partnerships in business success. Nick emphasizes, “The best bosses treat their employees leaving as a graduation... When you send an employee off to do great things, they may come back in a big way” ([42:02]).

3. Embracing Failure: HB Reese’s journey demonstrates that setbacks can lead to greater innovations. By embracing the accidental burning of peanuts, Reese created a unique product that defined his legacy.

4. Focus on a Hero Product: Drawing from Milton Hershey’s advice, HB initially diversified his product line but ultimately found unparalleled success by concentrating on perfecting the Peanut Butter Cup.

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Additional Facts

• Reese’s Pieces and Popular Culture: Introduced in 1978, Reese’s Pieces saw a surge in sales following a $1 million product placement in the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, resulting in revenue jumps of 65-85% ([42:54]).

• Volume of Sales: By 1969, six years post-acquisition, Reese’s had sold over 300 million cups, surpassing even Hershey’s original chocolate bar in popularity ([38:57]).

• Marketing Genius: HB Reese’s strategic packaging—offering two small cups per package—was a deliberate move to enhance customer perception of value without increasing costs. “He could have given you one large cup, but instead gave two smaller cups. Same cost, but better feeling” ([40:17]).

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Conclusion

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups epitomize the blend of innovation, resilience, and strategic partnership. From HB Reese’s humble beginnings and relentless pursuit of his dream to the iconic status of Reese’s today, this episode of The Best Idea Yet illuminates how bold ideas and perseverance can create lasting legacies. As Jack aptly puts it, “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are pretty universally loved. They’re still the number one most popular Halloween candy in the country” ([40:17]).

For those inspired by Reese’s story, the episode underscores the value of embracing contrasts, learning from failures, and fostering meaningful mentorships to achieve extraordinary success.

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Notable Quotes:

• Nick Martell ([05:49]): “Maybe the future is really chocolate.”

• Jack Crivici-Kramer ([14:10]): “Milton stops by every couple weeks to check in with HB to admire the cows and to see how the dairy experiment is coming along.”

• Nick Martell ([31:09]): “The contrast of savory and sweet in the peanut butter cup tells a story.”

• Jack Crivici-Kramer ([42:02]): “When you send an employee off to do great things, they may come back in a big way.”

• Jack Crivici-Kramer ([40:17]): “He could have given you one large cup, but instead gave two smaller cups. Same cost, but better feeling.”

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Stay Tuned:
In the next episode, Nick and Jack explore the fascinating history of the Fender Stratocaster and its impact on rock and roll. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts to continue uncovering the untold stories of the products you love.

Transcript

[Nick Martell]

Wondery subscribers can listen to the best idea yet, early and ad free right now.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Join Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

[Nick Martell]

Wondery. Don't knock it till you try it, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Don't knock what?

[Nick Martell]

Don't knock it till you try it.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

What are you talking about?

[Nick Martell]

Olive oil on ice cream? Because once you do olive oil on ice cream, you're gonna start putting olive oil on your yogurt and then breakfast and dessert are covered.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I don't get either of those ideas.

[Nick Martell]

I was in Bangkok once. I had mango and rice. Have you had mango and rice?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's a good combo. Are we talking about perfect combinations?

[Nick Martell]

Surprisingly perfect combinations, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Okay, can I just go like regular over here and say scrambled eggs and ketchup? What about that?

[Nick Martell]

You're not going to win any Michelin stars for this stuff, but I see where you're going with this, Jack.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk.

[Nick Martell]

All right, Bobby Filet. I know what we're talking about.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

How about corduroy with cashmere? Well, the most perfect, surprising perfect combination is peanut butter and chocolate.

[Nick Martell]

Peanut butter and chocolate yetis. Whenever Jack and I get an unexpected combo, we call it a Reese's moment.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And of course, when we say Reese's, we're talking about Reese's Peanut Butter cups.

[Nick Martell]

That perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter that actually comes from a very specific and very secret way of roasting the peanuts. Reese's Peanut Butter cups are the most popular choice of Halloween candy for kids. And they're the second top selling candy for athletes, right behind M&M's.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Is it chocolate with peanut butter or is it peanut butter with chocolate?

[Nick Martell]

Well, Jack, that's the great debate. But either way, Reese's, they aren't just for trick or treating. Yet he's with over $670 million in sales during spooky season alone. This brand makes an additional two and a half billion bucks during the rest of the year, making Reese's the top selling candy brand in America.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And Reese's is owned by Hershey's, which claims a massive 35% share of the $50 billion US candy market.

[Nick Martell]

Jack, could you sprinkle on some sweet context for us over there?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Hershey's profit last year crossed $2 billion, which is well above Uber or Intel or any tech company funded by Andreessen Horowitz.

[Nick Martell]

Right, now we should point out, Jack, that the Reese's Peanut Butter cup was actually invented nearly 100 years ago in 1928, but it wasn't even invented by Hershey's. Today we'll tell you the true inventor of the Reese's Peanut Buttercup, who went from a down on his luck frog salesman to a real life Willy Wonka. We'll tell you why Reese's is the only candy that gives you two, count em two in each package.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And the scientific explanation for why humans crave this surprising combo of flavors and.

[Nick Martell]

Why leaning into your mistakes is the most delicious indulgence of all.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Let's unwrap this thing. And don't forget to peel off those little cup wrappers too.

[Nick Martell]

Jack Even if I had a peanut allergy, I'd jump into this episode because Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are truly the best idea yet from Wondery and T Boy. I'm Nick Martell.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And I'm Jack Crevice Kramer.

[Nick Martell]

And this is the best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. I got that feeling again. Something familiar, but no, we got it coming to you. I got that feeling again. They changed the game in one move. It's how they hook up.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This episode is presented by Lenovo.

[Nick Martell]

The Lenovo Aura Edition AI PC imagined with intel is an innovative PC with bold software solutions that elevate your day to day.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Because whatever great idea you're creating may be your best idea yet. It's possible on your Intel AI PC.

[Nick Martell]

Learn more about Lenovo Aura Edition AI [e-mail] Aura Crowds stroll through giant exhibition halls marveling at innovations from across the globe. The hall of Electricity is filled with blinding displays of brightly burning light bulbs. And the scent of foods from across the globe fills the air as visitors sample exotic delights like Turkish coffee and Austrian sausages.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This is the 1893 Chicago World Exposition, the fair that changed America. It introduces electric streetlights to the masses. It debuts the zipper. It gives us Wrigley's gum. And it introduces the world's first ever Ferris wheel. But in the soaring atrium of the Agriculture building sits the greatest confectionary marvel of the entire event. A 38 foot tall temple molded from 30,000 pounds of chocolate made by the German chocolatiers, the stalwart brothers.

[Nick Martell]

Like if the Romans had a sweet tooth, they would have built this. It's three stories tall.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Well, guess who sees this chocolate temple? Milton Hershey.

[Nick Martell]

Ah, Milton Hershey. Yeah, Yetis that Hershey. Milton Hershey. He pushes through the crowd. He's trying to get a better look at this chocolate edifice thing. One of his bushy eyebrows rises. And through his perfectly manicured mustache, a smile emerges. You see, after some false starts and a few failed business attempts, Milton is now 36 years old, and he's America's top manufacturer of caramel candies. But seeing this temple of chocolate and all the people in awe of it, it has him thinking that maybe caramel is passe, maybe taffy is too old, and maybe vanilla is vanada. Maybe the future is really chocolate.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This visit to the fair inspires Mr. Milton Hershey to introduce a chocolate coating to his caramels for the very first time.

[Nick Martell]

That is a big deal, and we should sprinkle on some context here. In the 1800s, making chocolate at scale, it is nearly impossible because you have to grind the cocoa beans. You got to make sure the cocoa butter is evenly distributed by mixing them for days to get the right texture. Up to 78 hours of constant, constant stirring. And if you mess it up, your chocolate will taste like sawdust. So this whole chocolate operation idea, it is way too costly to even consider at this time.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Only a few factories in New York even attempt to make chocolate at scale, and they do the whole process by hand. The days of constant stirring, it's done by some guy with gigantic forearms.

[Nick Martell]

There's also machinery being demoed at this epic world fair that can do everything we just said about chocolate in a fraction of the time. And with more consistent, silky smooth results.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

These machines will fit nicely in Milton's factory in Pennsylvania. So he orders several of them and gets to work on his new chocolate covered caramels. But early adoption of these machines wasn't his only competitive advantage in the chocolate industry.

[Nick Martell]

So let's go to the maps, man. What do we got?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

His location in Pennsylvania. That gave Milton an additional edge because the factory happens to be in the middle of Amish country.

[Nick Martell]

Location, location, location.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And at the time before reliable refrigeration, the closer you were to a dairy farm, the fresher the milk you could get. And the fresher the milk, the better your caramels will taste.

[Nick Martell]

And get this, competitors who don't use fresh milk, they use paraffin wax. Now, we should point out paraffin wax, it is safe to eat. But honestly, I'll take Amish milk over wax any day of the week, Jack. So by 1900, seven years after that fair, Milton sees the writing on the wall. Chocolate covered caramels, yeah, they've been doing okay, but chocolate bar sales, they are outpac caramel. And now Hershey is ready to put everything into chocolate. So he makes a big move. He Sells off the entire country leading caramel business and sets out to perfect the milk chocolate bar.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And after a few years of trial and error, Milton finally hits upon a winning formula. It is smooth, it is milky, it is without a hint of sawdust or paraffin wax.

[Nick Martell]

Chef's kiss.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So he starts cranking out his new milk chocolate bar, selling them for 5 cents each.

[Nick Martell]

Now, Jack, I know we've got inflation as a factor here, and $0.05 doesn't sound like that much. But let's talk numbers for the initial Hershey's chocolate bar.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

In the first year, sales of this Hershey's nickel bar exceed $1 million, which would be $33 million today.

[Nick Martell]

And this success allows Milton Hershey to pull off one of the biggest conglomerate moves we'd ever seen.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

He builds his own dairy for his own fresh milk. And then, Nick, he buys an entire sugar cane plantation in Cuba so that he's got the milk and the sugar all to himself. This is vertical integration on an impressive scale. But there's more, Nick. Something much wilder than buying the plantation in Cuba. He creates his own town, Jack.

[Nick Martell]

Now this is vertical integration on steroids.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

He builds housing, he builds a church, he builds transportation and additional businesses like gas stations, bowling alleys, even a theme park all around the epicenter, which is his Hershey's chocolate factory. And he names this town Hershey, Pennsylvania. Still a real town, by the way. Still on the map.

[Nick Martell]

Now, unfortunately, there is no Roaring river full of liquid chocolate. But Hershey Town, it isn't just an operational win, it's also an HR and a marketing win. Because people want to come and work for Hershey because of the safe, secure and fulfilling place that he created. The town of Hershey, Pennsylvania, it actually starts poaching workers from far and wide, including one down on his luck dairy hand by the name of H.B.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Reese.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, you hear that? Yep, that's it. That's the shrill whistle that signals the end of another long shift at Summers Canning Company in the town of New Freedom, Pennsylvania. Among the workers streaming out the doors of this cavernous cannery is a tired looking man named Harry Burnett. HB Reese.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

HB has worked every kind of odd job at this point, from fishery manager to dairy farmer. He even did a stint raising frogs and selling those frogs to local restaurants.

[Nick Martell]

I gotta ask, what are the lily pad numbers? Do the frogs know about this whole operation?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But at this point in his life, HB Just can't catch a break. It was all looking so good when he married his wife, Blanche Edna, who came From a well to do family. But now the pressure is on. HB and Blanche have nine kids, plus.

[Nick Martell]

His mom and his aunt. They live with them too, making it 13 mouths to feed. So HB's in laws, they can only help so much. And he can't rely on amphibians to feed a family of 11. I think we learned that in business school.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So right now, in 1916, money is tight. But HB doesn't let that bring him down. He hasn't found his perfect gig yet, but he's always gained to try new things and reinvent himself another time.

[Nick Martell]

So here's what our man HP does. He hauls his tired body up the steps of his porch. He pushes open the door to this cramped two bedroom house. And the poor guy, he's been working all day. He wants just five minutes to himself to scour the paper for job opportunities before he just gets a little bit of shut eye. But as soon as he walks in the door, his kids jump on him. Robbie wants a piggyback. Clara demands he read her a story. John and Anna, they're fighting over in the corner. And a searing pain shoots up HB's leg. Oh yeah. Little Ralph just jabbed him in the thigh with a pencil. And there's probably a toad loose in the living room on top of all of that. So Jack eat his pandemonium in the Reese house. Hb, he finally battles his way over to the dining table, finding his newspaper and scanning the job section. And one item grabs his eye. It's a help wanted ad for dairy farm workers in a town called Hershey.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

By this point, Milton Hershey's chocolate making operation is in full swing. The town of Hershey is thriving. Sales are soaring. And the company recently launched a hit new product. The Hershey's Kiss.

[Nick Martell]

Now, funny thing, Yetis HB himself. He has a little family history when it comes to the chocolate trade. Because his mother used to make chocolate covered almonds and raisins. And maybe it's a sign that chocolate is actually in his future.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So HB finds a moment to himself to mail off his application for this promising new job. A few weeks later, he receives an envelope with a Hershey Pennsylvania postmark. He's got an interview.

[Nick Martell]

And when he steps off the train, HB is stunned by what he sees. Because what he's looking at is this town that Hershey invented out out of nowhere. They got grand buildings, Hershey. It is the Babylon of Bon bons.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But Nick, he's here to get a job. He can't be distracted by all those fancy Hershey perks. So he focuses, he nails the interview and he gets that job. And he jumps in right away, putting everything into his new role in the cocoa industry. He brings his wife, his nine children and his two in laws and he packs them all up and moves into Hershey, Pennsylvania. Soon enough, Milton likes HB so much that he makes him the manager of his experimental dairy farm called the Round Barn. A circular barn which at the time was pretty rare. And actually I'm looking at a picture of it right now. It looks like a Hershey's kiss.

[Nick Martell]

I feel like there's some architectural inspo going on here, Jack. Now when Jack and I say experimental, we're not talking like sci fi experimental. Milton Hershey, he has a very specific R and D goal here. He wants to improve milk yields without losing quality. And just like the CEO of any big corporation today, Milton knows the importance of investing in research and development to develop and grow his business.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Google has Google X, which is their R and D wing that develops drones, satellites and self driving cars. Hershey's has a round barn to optimize milk.

[Nick Martell]

Same thing Google was inspired by Hershey's. I think that's what we're insinuating.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And this is where a friendship between HB and the big chocolate boss starts to blossom. Milton stops by every couple weeks to check in with HB to admire the cows and to see how the dairy experiment is coming along. One day when Milton shows up, he meets one of HB's young sons. It's little Ralphie, the kid who stuck his dad with the pencil earlier. Little Ralphie proudly tells Milton that he's been helping out around the barn.

[Nick Martell]

He's kind of treating his own kids like Oompa Loompas. But Milton and his wife, they love kids. They've actually always wanted to have a kid of their own, but it just hasn't happened for them. So Milton loves making a fuss about Ralph and all of Ralph's brothers and sisters whenever he sees one of them hanging out at the Round Barn. And Milton, he's actually also taking a shine to Ralph's dad, H.B. reese.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

H.B. is the kind of guy who's determined to be successful no matter what it takes and what adversity he faces. Which actually reminds Milton of himself. He had his own fair share of failures before he founded the Hershey company.

[Nick Martell]

But unfortunately, two years after HB gets this epic job for Hershey, the Round barn experiments aren't going well. The milking machines, they're Unreliable and they're too costly to maintain. So Milton sadly shuts down his grand dairy experiment.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This leaves HB Unemployed again and not sure where to go from there. And if you think our boy is.

[Nick Martell]

Going back to hawk and frogs after all that, then you don't know HB So the pressure, it's back on for HB he saved a little bit of money and he decides, you know what? It's time to take a risk. It's time to stand up and launch his very own candy company.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So begins the R and R Candy Company. He sets up shop in an old canning factory not far from Hershey, Pennsylvania. Like his mom before him, HB Starts making chocolate almonds and raisins and selling them around town.

[Nick Martell]

But HB he's bitten off more than he can chew. And he sinks all of his savings into new manufacturing equipment. But then he runs out of money to keep the whole production going. And in January of 1920, he even has to issue stock in R and R just to raise funds to keep the company afloat.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But HB Just can't sell enough of his candies. So he shuts down the venture. It's another defeat for HB Reese. He packs it up and out of desperation, he starts working three full time jobs at once. One at a paper mill, one as a butcher, and a third canning vegetables.

[Nick Martell]

There are no days off for our man HB and the wildest part, he and his wife, they have another baby. Bringing the current family headcount to 14. I mean, Jack, there are only so many caramels a kid can eat.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This guy really is doing all he can and he's barely surviving. Something's got to give. This episode is presented by Lenovo Yetis.

[Nick Martell]

We talk on the show a lot about great teams and fantastic partners behind insanely awesome products.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Like how Michael Jordan and Nike together built a sneaker that changed the world.

[Nick Martell]

Well, Lenovo and Intel joined forces for the ultimate AI enhanced laptop. With software solutions that'll make your work go by faster and better. The Lenovo Aura Edition AI PC imagined.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

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[Nick Martell]

Okay, get this. Lenovo Aura Edition AI PC. Powered with Intel Core Ultra processors, it uses AI to intelligently adapt to whatever you do.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

If you're working in a cafe, Shield Mode will guard your privacy.

[Nick Martell]

All right, Jack, if you're taking a meeting, Collaboration mode optimizes your camera automatically.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

They also come with SmartCare, which is premier support for business.

[Nick Martell]

Get 24 7, 365 access to elite support teams who will give you the VIP treatment that Nike gave Michael Lenovo and Intel.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

They built the laptop that lets you think up the best idea yet.

[Nick Martell]

Learn more about Lenovo Aura Edition AI [e-mail] Aura it's possible on your Intel AI PC. Now our favorite part about Hershey, Pennsylvania. Oh, it's the map, Jack. Can I go full Magellan on this thing?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Let's go MapQuest.

[Nick Martell]

All right, instead of a main street, Hershey, Pennsylvania has a milk Street. Every detail of this geography is candy themed. So let's head over to West Chocolate Avenue. Real thing, where it is lunchtime in Hershey, Pennsylvania and a hungry line of customers wait outside Fenicis Italian restaurant to be seated. As they look over the menu, a tantalizing smell wafts up from the basement. It's not fresh basil or simmering tomato sauce, but it's the aroma of bubbling taffy. A child then rushes up the steps from that basement and pushes through the lunch crowd carrying a tray of confectionery.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Look, what is Ralphie Reese Yeah, it's Ralphie Jack.

[Nick Martell]

He's on his way to the Hershey factory to sell candy to the workers who were changing shifts.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Honestly, I think candy is the last thing I'd want after eight hours working on the Hershey's production line.

[Nick Martell]

It's tough on the stomach, but I.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Guess this means HP is back into the candy business.

[Nick Martell]

Jack he is back. Baby. HB he actually moves his whole family back to Hershey where his father in law helped them buy a house. Although his in laws were able to help with housing their pockets, they aren't deep enough to feed his football team of children. So HB he landed another job back with Hershey's and this time he's in the shipping room.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

HB knows he's got a good thing and he doesn't want to lose it again. So he works his butt off moving boxes here, boarding up boxes there, and he's quickly promoted to foreman.

[Nick Martell]

But HB he still finds time to pull off the most millennial move yet. HB launches a side hustle and actually he gets Milton's blessing to start making and selling candy while also working at Hershey in shipping. But Milton Hershey only has one condition. That HB source all of his chocolate directly from Hershey.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This is huge. Milton doesn't mind that HB is working on his own side hustle at the same time he's working for him. Milton sees how badly HB wants to succeed and instead of stifling him he encourages his employee to chase him dream. Although Milton's not being entirely altruistic, remember, he is also selling HB all of the chocolate for his little side hustle. So they're both benefiting from the situation. Either way, this side hustle is a win win for Hershey and Reece.

[Nick Martell]

Now, at this point in HB's side hustle, his main product is actually a mixed boxed assortment filled with everything from peppermints to chocolate covered honeydew melon. And he keeps coming up with new recipes and new ideas and he tosses them into this box. He also develops a Lizzy bar and a Johnny bar. Both are variations of coconut caramel chocolate bars, and each named after two of his many, many, many children. Now, these bars, they're actually pretty popular. Sales begin to grow really quickly, and soon hb, he's to rent out the basement of that nearby Italian restaurant to have enough space to produce all of these orders for candy boxes. Some grandma's like making Gaba ghoul on the floor above him. But hb, he's churning out coconut sugar on the floor below.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

By 1923, HB's business is going so well that he decides to focus on it full time. He quits his job at Hershey and incorporates his new business as the H.B. reese Candy Company.

[Nick Martell]

And Jack, once again, our guy, Milton Hershey comes in like some kind of angel and gives HB his full blessing.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

He also gives him an astute piece of advice. Focus on one hero product. When you're starting out, don't get distracted by trying to perfect all 20 different types of treats in your box of chocolates.

[Nick Martell]

And remember, besties, Milton Arshi. He wasn't an overnight nougat sensation like he didn't go viral with a variety of gummies. His business success didn't happen until he focused on one hero project, Caramel candies. Then he saw the opportunity in chocolate. So he focused all his energy and his efforts on creating one hero chocolate product, the Hershey chocolate bar. And only once he had perfected that bar did he branch out into other lines like the Hershey Kiss.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

There are so many examples of companies that followed this advice. Coca Cola. They launched with one insanely successful soda product. Instead of a dozen soda flavors or crocs, they launch with one shoe. They didn't start with a wide line of different footwear.

[Nick Martell]

I mean, Jack, if croc started out with stilettos, boots, and croc clogs, it wouldn't be the business it is today.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Hb thanks, Milton for the advice but he puts it in his back pocket as the thrill and stress of starting yet another candy business takes over his life once more.

[Nick Martell]

So, Jack, how about we pull a Forrest Gump and jump into this box of HB Reese's chocolates? What do you think?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

You never know what you're going to get.

[Nick Martell]

All right, so what is he selling exactly?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Over here, he's selling a coconut cream.

[Nick Martell]

Over here, he's got chocolate jets.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Over there, he's got peanut clusters.

[Nick Martell]

And I think I see a cream caramel butterscotch down here.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Each little candy is like a little venture investment for HB Reese. Each one is a different flavor. It's like a startup that could take off or people could hate it.

[Nick Martell]

So out of all these different flavors and varieties, how does HB start to zero in on his most famous candy that will one day bear his own name?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

If the future commercials are to be believed. One day, HB is coming down some steps with a bag of chocolate. Mmm, chocolate, he says to himself as he takes a bite. But he's so engrossed in this chocolate that he fails to notice a roller skate on the step in front of him. He steps, he slips, and his chocolate goes flying into the air.

[Nick Martell]

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the steps is a little kid tucking into a delicious jar of peanut butter. HB's chocolate soars up over the little kid's head and splat. Lands right in his jar of peanut butter. You got peanut butter on my chocolate? Well, you got chocolate in my peanut butter.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Provissimo. That's it. Like the big Bang or electron smashing into protons. That's how the chocolate peanut butter cup is born.

[Nick Martell]

Okay. Didn't exactly go down like that.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

According to HB Reese's grandson, Andrew Reese, this is wild. But HB didn't even like the taste of peanut butter mixed with chocolate.

[Nick Martell]

Can you believe that? I almost respect him more that he did not like the taste of the product that one day made him famous.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I know. It proves that HB was a savvy businessman.

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, it does, man.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And his own personal dislike doesn't blind him to the opportunity that he sees right now.

[Nick Martell]

You see, at his hb, he likes to keep tabs on what's hot and what is not. On a delivery run to a local shop, he says, hey, Mr. Thompson, what's selling these days? And the owner is going to tell him that people can't get enough of one specific candy. And that candy happens to be peanut butter chocolates. In fact, those peanut butter chocolates are so popular that the suppliers can't even keep up with demand.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So peanut butter chocolates were already a thing in the 1920s and they were already popular. So Reese didn't invent the peanut butter cup, but he wanted in on this business, but he had no idea how to make them. So he immediately goes out and buys a 50 pound can of peanut butter to experiment with Skippy or Jif.

[Nick Martell]

Crunchy or smooth, we don't know.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But we do know that he grabbed a lot of spoons, a bunch of napkins, and a gallon of milk. And he got to work experimenting. At first, he simply rolls peanut butter into balls and then hand dips them into melted chocolate.

[Nick Martell]

Could it stop there, Jack? Sounds pretty good to me. But we should point out there is one problem here.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The process is really hard to automate. Getting the chocolate, covering the peanut butter, keeping the integrity of the shape of the sphere.

[Nick Martell]

It's the chocolate industry's equivalent of the Apollo missions. Peanut butter and chocolate just can't be done at scale.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But here's where HB takes a page or two out of Milton Hershey's book. First, he sees this production bottleneck as an opportunity. If he can do with these chocolate peanut butter balls what Hershey did with the chocolate bar, then his upside could be huge.

[Nick Martell]

I'm already salivating in anticipation.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

HB realizes the solution to scalable chocolate and peanut butter could simply be the shape. What if instead of balls, you used cups? Because candy cups fit snugly into molds, and molds make it easier to keep the size consistent, making it faster to move them along the production line, it's all about the molds. The second lesson HP adopts for Milton Hershey is to take control of the supply chain. When it came to chocolate, he was good to go. Thanks to his agreement with Milton, his old buddy, he's got those cocoa contracts locked down.

[Nick Martell]

But when it comes to his second key ingredient, peanut butter, HB was at the whims of the market. So he makes moves to create his own peanut butter. And he decides to roast the peanuts. He buys a load of raw peanuts, and he gets a hold of some old roasting machines to make trial batches of his own peanut butter. And you know what, Jack? He takes the first scoop out, he gets it on his finger, he brings it up to his mouth, and even though he can't even stand the scent of peanut butter, it's delicious. He's tasting his own roasted peanut butter, and he can hear the cash register ka ching in as he goes.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

What he just tasted is the very first batch of Reese's Peanut Butter. Pretty soon he's perfected the process and decides to ramp up his production capacity as he prepares to release his new peanut butter cup to the world.

[Nick Martell]

And his first move, Jack, Upgrade the factory with some brand new state of the art roasting machines. But funny thing, as the first batch of product rolls off the line, there's one noticeable problem. Something's off. The taste, the smell. It's just not what he expected.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

After a whole bunch of trial and error and isolating variables, he and his staff discover that the older roasting machines had actually been malfunctioning and were burning the peanuts. But that mistake had unknowingly given the Reese's peanut butter a unique flavor that set it apart from all their competitors.

[Nick Martell]

And HV he just embraces it. You know, happy accidents, they occur all the time in business.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And for Reese's, the happy accident was using those old roasting machines that burned the peanuts. Nick, wasn't it Bob Ross that said there's no mistakes, there's only happy accidents? He'd be proud of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

[Nick Martell]

I'm proud. You just connected the world's greatest painter to the world's greatest candy.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

So HB sets out to burn more peanuts. They use the new machines, but they crank it up to 11 to get that toasting roasty flavor of the old machines. And with the peanut butter cups ready to go, he tosses them into his assortment box in 1928. And they're called I'm ready Penny cups.

[Nick Martell]

Penny cups. Oh, but Jack, what about the advice that Milton Hershey gave him? Right? Like focus on one hero product where.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Yeah, he's not doing that yet. He's still got a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

[Nick Martell]

It turns out besties. HB has a similar entrepreneurial mindset, but he's not ready to bet everything on these peanut butter cups. He's a little bit stubborn too. So he's mixing them into his assortment box along with the Jujubes and the whatever, whatevers. And he's also supplying them individually wrapped in a wrapper for stores.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

HB hits the road to promote his assortment boxes which now contain the penny cups. He even sets up special demonstration displays in department store windows. Employees hand coat the peanut butter cups with chocolate for all to see.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, and Jack, what do people think about the taste of this brand new concoction?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Well, it's peanut butter and chocolate mix. Yeah. So yeah, they love it.

[Nick Martell]

Oh yeah, they love the Taste.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

It's a little unexpected, but it works. Yeah.

[Nick Martell]

And there's actually a scientific reason for it. It's called dynamic sensory contrast. Basically, your taste buds go absolutely bananas when you eat something with contrasting textures and contrasting tastes.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The smooth sweet chocolate with the slightly crunchy, salty peanut butter.

[Nick Martell]

You also experience this phenomenon with apple pie a la mode. Hot and cold, sweet and sour chicken.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Sweet and salty.

[Nick Martell]

It is thanks to that tension, that contrast, our taste buds go so crazy, they can even override our sense of feeling full. And that's why you may even have found yourself looking up from an empty share sized pack of Reese's and realizing with absolute shock that the serving size was one cup. Been there.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The contrast of savory and sweet in the peanut butter cup tells a story.

[Nick Martell]

HB he's on to something.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

His product is a hit.

[Nick Martell]

He's got the scalability, those machines and the cup molds, they are ready to mass produce.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And he's got the market fit.

[Nick Martell]

Like we said, people are literally licking windows to watch the peanut butter melt onto the chocolate.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Convinced, HB finally hits his stride with the peanut Butter cup in September 1929, he's finally got his hero product. But September 1929, isn't that an important month in history? Nick?

[Nick Martell]

Yeah, Jack, I'm checking the calendars here. And September 1929 is the biggest financial collapse in history. Besties. An epic Wall street crash kicks off the Great Depression, and our man HB he just went all in on a celebratory treat yourself candy startup. Tough timing.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This episode is sponsored by Abbott. Let's talk about a small thing that can make a big difference if you have diabetes. The Freestyle Libre 3 sensor. It's amazing how the sensor gives you real time glucose readings so you can see the impact of every meal and every activity to make better choices. The Freestyle Libre 3 sensor can help you live life with diabetes on your terms. You can try it free at Freestyle Libre US offer available for people who qualify. Visit MyFreestyle US to see all terms and conditions. Certain exclusions apply for prescription only. Safety info found at freestyle libre us.

[Nick Martell]

All right, Jack, let's set the scene. Because with 25% unemployment and wages down 40%, the early 1930s is a bad time in America. HB he suddenly can't make payroll, and so he's resorting to giving employees boxes of candy that they can hopefully sell or trade for groceries just to make ends meet. And HB he's still stocking stores with his candy, but he's barely staying afloat. He's selling on consignment, and he's even getting chocolate from Hershey's on credit.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Until one day he rolls up at the Hershey factory to get more chocolate to make more of his product. Product. But he stopped in his tracks. At the door, the manager says to him, hb, I'm really sorry to have to do this to you, but you gotta pay up. The endless chocolate tab has officially run out.

[Nick Martell]

But just when things look darkest, he runs into Milton Hershey himself walking across the street, who immediately reopens that chocolate credit line. I mean, Jack, talk about a guardian angel.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

This is a chocolate factory owner who happens to be incredibly nice and provides limitless candy supply funding.

[Nick Martell]

Milton Hershey's the first sugar daddy. Literally. He throws HB a lifeline that could save the peanut butter cup as we know it. By 1933, HB has barely pulled his company out of a nosedive, thanks in no small part to the generosity of Milton Hershey. Rog Sugar Daddy. And it's also thanks to HP's hero product, the $0.01 peanut butter cup.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

These $0.01 individual peanut butter chocolates are an affordable splurge during this general economic gloom. But there's one thing every hero needs. It's a name. This is the moment when the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are born.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, the Reese's Peanut Butter cup, finally. Oh, and hb. Jack, he's got a flair for the dramatics that Lady Gaga would appreciate. Get this. He adds a tagline to the pack packaging. And here it is, made in Chocolate Town. So they must be good.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

He's making good use of the Hershey connection again, but not saying something trademarked so he can do it for free. This is like when commercials refer to the super bowl as the big game.

[Nick Martell]

Chocolate Town is a standin for Hershey. So how do these newly rebranded peanut butter cups do when they hit the market?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Jack, pass the celebratory wet wipe. Because they're a massive besties.

[Nick Martell]

These things are so popular that by 1935, Reese's has grown to 70 employees, including HB6 Sons and HB. He's finally able to pay off the rest of his mortgage on both his house and his factory.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And then, just as peanut butter cups start hockey stick growth and going Gretzky the chocolate hits the fan. Another dire moment for the country when World War II begins and introduces one of the greatest possible threats to a candy business, sugar rationing.

[Nick Martell]

Yetis. This is a disaster for confectionery makers everywhere, including and especially in Chocolate Town. As The US Is dragged into the war. Rationing affects nearly every single industry. And you'd expect Hershey's candy to be hit the hardest. But get this. For Hershey's, the war actually does the opposite. Remember when we mentioned Milton Hershey bought up that sugar cane farm down in Cuba? Well, the company controls its entire production process, including growing its own sugar. Oh, and right before the war, the U.S. army approached Hershey's to provide chocolate bars for soldiers rations. So he just snagged a contract with the military as well. So milted Hershey. He has as much sugar as he needs, and he just got a deal with the US Government. He's having his cake and he's eating it too.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Meanwhile, Reese's doesn't have its own sugar plantations. But HB has a secret weapon of his own. Because those peanut butter cups that everyone loves are half peanut butter. They actually use much less sugar than nearly every other candy out there.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, and then, Jack, this may be one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. But early on during the war, Fortune magazine does a cover story on Milton Hershey. And in that interview, the reporter describes Milton reaching into his desk for a box of Reese's Peanut butter cups and saying to the reporter, hey, take these delicious treats home for your wife and family. Enjoy.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Just constantly hyping up his buddy. HB Reese is the ultimate wingman. HP Reese lives out the rest of his life as one of the great coco kings. When he retires, he gives the company to his six sons. He wraps it up and hands it to him.

[Nick Martell]

But none of his daughters, which would feel some type of way about if I were them.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And he heads down to Florida for a well deserved semi retirement. HB Reese dies of a heart attack just before his 77th birthday in 1956.

[Nick Martell]

But that's not the end for Reese's Peanut butter cups at all, is it, Jack?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

H.B. sons Go on to modernize the operation and expand the business. By 1962, they've doubled the revenues to about $26 million. It's still dwarfed by Hershey, which was bringing in about $177 million in revenue at the time. But still not too shabby for a business built on one product with two ingredients.

[Nick Martell]

But don't toss out the wrapper quite yet, because even with all of that growth, there's still trouble ahead. Turns out it's pretty hard to run a company with, you know, six sons in charge.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Just ask the Jacuzzi brothers.

[Nick Martell]

And the battle over the future of Reese's rages at the family meetings.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Should they do a spin off caramel cup? Are we gonna get disrupted by almond butter?

[Nick Martell]

Is anyone concerned about the cashew butter?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And here's where it comes full circle. On April 12, 1963, the Reese brothers announced their selling to none other than the Hershey Chocolate Corporation. The perfect partnership. It just makes sense. Reese's is the second largest buyer of Hershey's chocolate after Mars. So the brothers decide to sell for $23.3 million, which today would be about $200 million. Not a bad exit for the Reese family. You could even call it a sweet deal.

[Nick Martell]

By 1969, just six years after Hershey acquired Reese's, those peanut butter cups, they're Hershey's best selling product with more than 300 million cups sold that year. That makes it even more popular than the Hershey bar that acquired it. This arguably makes Reese's one of the greatest acquisitions of all time. Like yeah, Zuck bought Instagram for a billion dollars, but I think Hershey's got a better ROI on the Reese's.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Little insider info here, but 2 out of 3 acquisitions don't work out. They fail for a lot of reasons. But rarely does the brand that was acquired overtake its parent company in sales. Especially in such a short period as six years, like with Reese's and Hershey's.

[Nick Martell]

I can think of one thing that may explain this success. HB Reese was fond of saying this one wonderful quote. If you make a product that both young and old enjoy, your potential customers are limited only by the number of people on earth.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And he's right. Reese's peanut butter cups are pretty universally loved. And they're still the number one most popular Halloween candy in the country.

[Nick Martell]

Which is the ultimate barometer of financial health for a candy business.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

But even more than that, they're an industry defining product. People don't say, I want a peanut butter cup. They say, give me a Reese's, give me two Reese's. And that's just the type of brand awareness you can't buy.

[Nick Martell]

Now that's not to say besties that Reese's is afraid to innovate. They've also experimented with caramel flavors, throwback to Milton's early days. Crunchy peanut butter, honey roasted peanut butter, even a crunchy cookie flavor that mixes crushed chocolate cookies into the peanut butter. But besties. There is one thing in particular that Reese's doesn't budge on. When you buy a package, it actually comes with two candies inside. And the reason is because HB always believed that two small cups made his customers feel like they were getting more for their money.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

He could have given you one large cup, but instead gave two smaller cups. Same cost, but better feeling.

[Nick Martell]

And that's the type of psychological strategy that only an ex frog salesman with 14 kids, three failed jobs, and an epic eye for opportunity could have ever cooked up. Okay, Jack, now that we've learned the secret to success for the Reese's Peanut Butter cup, just burn the nuts. What is your takeaway?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

My takeaway is the Reese's moment, when two contrasting elements come together in one product. And the tension is why you love it. Reese's is salty, but it's sweet. Birkenstock shoes. They're trendy, but they're ugly. Sabrina Carpenter songs They're sweet, but they're edgy. Now, the scientific term for these contrasts, as we heard with Reese's, is dynamic sensory contrast with advertising. David Ogilvie calls it tension. Either way, whether you call it contrast or tension, it's what underlies any great story or product.

[Nick Martell]

This phenomenon, the two opposing forces in one product. It creates a complexity, and it enhances each element, from fashion to food. We like the taste of contrast.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

What about you, Nick? What's your takeaway, Jack?

[Nick Martell]

My takeaway is that the best bosses treat their employees leaving as a graduation. From a manager's perspective, a star employee leaving the company, that is sad, frustrating, painful news. You're losing them, but it's also something to be celebrated because you helped them move on to something better. And honestly, when you send an employee off to do great things, they may come back in a big way.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I think Milton Hershey completely understood this.

[Nick Martell]

Oh, he totally got this. It's like, if you want to mentor employees at work, you need to channel Milton Hershey. That's who you need to have in your mind. When an employee leaves, don't treat them like they're quitting. Treat them like they they're graduating. But, Jack, before we go, it's time for our favorite part of the show.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

The best facts yet, our favorite tidbits and factoids. We couldn't fit into the story, but we cannot leave you without.

[Nick Martell]

All right, Jack, why don't you kick us off? What do we got, man?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Reese's pieces were invented in 1978 after Hershey's acquired Reese's, and they did fine when they were introduced into the market. But it wasn't until a little film called E ET Came out four years later that sales started surging. Hershey gave Universal a million dollars to market their Reese's Pieces in the movie without even seeing the script.

[Nick Martell]

After the premiere of et, Reese's Pieces hit top shelf numbers with sales. Get this, somewhere between a 65 and 85% revenue surge, Hershey's executives, they estimated that their $1 million investment ended up bringing in 26 million bucks in PC sales.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Definitely one of the most successful product placements in all time. And just to settle the debate once and for all, how do you pronounce it, Nick?

[Nick Martell]

It's Mario, not Mario. I mean, it's Reese's, not Reese's.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I'm willing to concede that I've been mispronouncing Reese's this entire time. It's not Reese's Pieces.

[Nick Martell]

The pieces throws you off, right?

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

No, it's the Reese's Pieces that made it clear to me that I've been doing it wrong. What the heck is Pieces? They're pieces. Therefore, it's Reese's. And that, my friends, is why Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is the Best Idea Yet.

[Nick Martell]

Now, Jack, I got a nice cold ice cream with olive oil waiting for you.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

I'm willing to try it. Yeti's on the next episode of the Best Idea Yet. It's the hard rocking story of the guitar that changed rock and roll, the Fender Stratocaster. Follow the Best Idea yet on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of the Best Idea yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

[Nick Martell]

Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey the best idea yet is a production of Wondery hosted by me, Nick Martell.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

And me, Jack Crevici Kramer.

[Nick Martell]

And hey, if you have a problem product you're obsessed with but you wish you knew the backstory, drop us a comment. We'll look into it for you. Oh, and don't forget to rate and review the podcast.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gautier.

[Nick Martell]

Peter A.R. cooney is our producer.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan and Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer.

[Nick Martell]

Our associate producer and researcher is H. Conley. This episode was written by Alex Burns and Adam Skuse. We use many sources in our research.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Including Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, the Untold Story by Andrew R. Reese and Atlas Obscura's Was it Hershey or Reese that made the Peanut Butter Cups great? By Hayley Lieberman, sound design and mixing by CJ Drummler fact checking by Molly Artwick music supervision by Scott Velazquez and Jolina Garcia For Freeson sync.

[Nick Martell]

Our theme song is Got that Feeling Again by Blackalac. Executive producers for Nick and Jack studios.

[Jack Crevici Kramer]

Are me, Nick Martell and me, Jack Revici Kramer.

[Nick Martell]

Executive producers for Wondery are Dave Easton, Jenny lauer, Beckman, Aaron O'Flaherty and Marshall Louie.