The Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company is a candy-making division within the Hershey Company

The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S...

. Peter Paul was originally founded in 1919 by Peter Paul Halajian

Peter Paul Halajian

Peter Paul Halajian was a candy retailer in the New Haven, Connecticut area in the early 20th century. Along with some other Armenian investors, he formed the Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company in 1919...

, a candy retailer in the New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

 area.

Halajian formed Peter Paul with some other Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 investors, and the company's first product was the "Konabar", a blend of coconut, fruits, nuts and chocolate. In 1920, they purchased the rights to Knights Knifty Knibbles owned by Anita Grace Knight in Plainfield NJ and renamed the product, the Mounds candy bar

Mounds (candy)

Mounds is a candy bar made by Hershey's, and is the sister product of Almond Joy. Like Almond Joy, it consists of a coconut based center; however, it is enrobed with dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate and does not contain almonds....

, which featured sweetened coconut and dark chocolate. Other candies followed, but sugar and coconut shortages in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 caused Peter Paul to drop most brands and concentrate on the Mounds bar. The Almond Joy

Almond Joy

An Almond Joy is a candy bar manufactured by Hershey's. It consists of a coconut-based center topped with two almonds and enrobed in a layer of milk chocolate...

 bar was introduced in 1946.

Peter Paul acquired the York Cone Company in July 1972, gaining the successful York Peppermint Pattie

York Peppermint Pattie

York Peppermint Pattie is a dark chocolate enrobed peppermint confection produced by The Hershey Company, under license from Cadbury plc ....

, which debuted in 1940. In 1978, Peter Paul merged with the Cadbury Schweppes

Cadbury Schweppes

Cadbury is a confectionery company owned by Kraft Foods and is the industry's second-largest globally after Mars, Incorporated. Headquartered in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom, the company operates in more than 50 countries worldwide....

company, becoming the European confectionery's United States operation. Hershey's purchased Peter Paul from Cadbury Schweppes in 1988.