--- title: "Peep this: The enduring legacy of a marshmallow chick - The Hustle" description: It once took 27 hours to make a Peep. Today, the company churns out 5.5m daily. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/962875944-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-09T010344.716Z.webp --- # Peep this: The enduring legacy of a marshmallow chick ![Sara Friedman](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Sara Friedman](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/sara-friedman) [Sara Friedman Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/sarafriedmannn) Published: February 09, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 Though Peeps creator Bob Born recently [passed away](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/04/business/bob-born-dead.html), his candies will live on in our hearts, and possibly stomachs, forever. ![Peep this: The enduring legacy of a marshmallow chick](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/962875944-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-09T010344.716Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=962875944-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-09T010344.716Z.webp) [Just Born Quality Confections](https://www.justborn.com/) was founded in 1923 by Born’s father and produces a range of sweet treats, including its bestselling brand Mike and Ike. The company’s claim to fame, though, is the humble Peep — [5.5m](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-55-million-peeps-are-made-easter) of which are produced daily (that’s ~2B chicks a year). #### **But it wasn’t always like that** In 1953, Peeps were made mostly by hand, and the process took 27 hours from start to finish. Born, after earning his engineering degree, spent nine months building a machine that could turn sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin into Peeps in six minutes flat. Peeps began as yellow chicks — Just Born inherited the candy when it bought a smaller competitor — but have since mutated into a variety of colors and shapes. #### **Then people got weird:** - There’s a standing [world record](https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/matt-stonie-world-record-peeps-255-in-five-minutes) for eating 255 Peeps in five minutes. - Many are [obsessed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWQe0WLsDUw) with exploding the little guys in [microwaves](https://www.wikihow-fun.com/Microwave-a-Peep). - Recipes abound: [s’mores](https://www.today.com/recipes/easter-peeps-s-mores-recipe-t152368) or, even worse, [vodka](https://www.delish.com/holiday-recipes/easter/g3312/peeps-hacks/?slide=4). Stranger still, *The St. Paul Pioneer Press* started a Peeps diorama contest in 2004, and ~80 newspapers across the country followed suit. (*The Washington Post *took its 2022 contest to TikTok and the [entries](http://washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/04/14/peeps-diorama/) are epic.) If you’re a Peeps fan, be sure to mark your calendars for Pennsylvania’s [Peepsfest](https://www.discoverlehighvalley.com/events/major-events-festivals/peepsfest/), where a giant Peep is dropped on New Year’s Eve. Topics: [Ecommerce And Retail](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/ecommerce-and-retail) [Food](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/food) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp) ### Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue - ![Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/908447747-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-dippindots_20231002233115.webp) ### Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business - ![When did the packaged food aisle get so cool?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2070592382-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Packaging_20231003215516.webp) ### When did the packaged food aisle get so cool? - ![The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/258270469-19-News-Brief_2023-09-24T200813.124Z.webp) ### The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar - ![One chip, several problems](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/161461033-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-paqui_20230914213352.webp) ### One chip, several problems - ![Excited about Bed Bath & Beyond’s return? You may feel pretty lonely](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1248390843-19-News-Brief_2023-08-20T225804.606Z.webp) ### Excited about Bed Bath & Beyond’s return? You may feel pretty lonely - ![The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1460885417-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Mushrooms_20230816224353-1.webp) ### The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle - ![A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1897903693-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-croc-tarts_20230814231514.webp) ### A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers - ![L’Eggo my… booze in a jar?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/858195133-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Eggo_20230822212534.webp) ### L’Eggo my… booze in a jar? - ![Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/62473941-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Beyond_Meat_stock_20230806234941.webp) ### Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. 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Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Sara Friedman", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/sara-friedman" }, "datePublished" : "2023-02-09T10:04:42.000Z", "headline" : "Peep this: The enduring legacy of a marshmallow chick", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/962875944-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-09T010344.716Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/02092023-peeps", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Sara Friedman", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/sara-friedman" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:34:17+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-02-09T10:04:42+0000", "headline" : "Peep this: The enduring legacy of a marshmallow chick", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/962875944-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-09T010344.716Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```