These little marshmallow blobs
are being blasted with sugar to become Peeps.
Just Born can produce 5.5 million
edible chicks and bunnies a day in this facility.
I think they're so versatile,
and there's really nothing like Peeps.
They're really irreplaceable at Easter,
but also at the other seasons.
From their Easter bunnies to Halloween ghosts,
Peeps are a household name.
Sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin.
How can something so simple be so delicious?
Every year, people compete nationwide
to make the best dioramas,
they've stuffed themselves in the "100 Peeps challenge,"
and even popped them in the microwave
to see if they'll explode.
Peeps make up 70% of Just Born's annual revenue.
We visited Just Born's Pennsylvania factory
to see how these iconic treats come to life.
Sam Born started the company in 1923 in Brooklyn, New York.
Born was a candymaker by trade
and earned a name for himself
through his confectionary innovations.
He created the technology to make sprinkles
and invented a machine that inserted the sticks
into lollipops, which actually earned him
the keys to the city of San Francisco in 1916.
After introducing popular candies like Mike and Ikes
and Hot Tamales, he bought the Rodda Candy Company,
but it wasn't because of the marshmallow chicks.
Just Born was actually looking for jelly bean technology.
The Peeps fell into their lap
sort of by accident.
We found that they were making Peeps by hand
in the back room by pastry tubes.
They took 27 hours to make.
Just Born decided to ramp up production
of these gooey treats.
Our founder's son, Bob Born, he actually
mechanized the process, and thankfully,
because of him, we are all able to enjoy a lot more Peeps.
Automating meant building a top-secret machine
called the depositor, which could spit out
rows of marshmallow chicks at once.
So the way the machine works,
and this is actually proprietary
so nobody can actually see the chicks being formed.
Now the process of making Peeps
takes just six minutes from start to finish.
So what's inside a Peep?
There are four basic ingredients:
sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and air.
They all combine to make the marshmallow base.
But making that marshmallow isn't easy.
Cooking and setting it takes hours.
It's very important, because Peeps have to be
a specific density when they're deposited onto the belt
to make sure that the marshmallow is stable.
The six minutes begin
when the marshmallows hit the production belt.
For the chicks, those are just deposited.
For our 2D shapes, it's basically like a cookie cutter.
There's already a thin layer
of colored sugar on the belt.
Just Born makes 19 colors of sugar, but ...
Yellow is our most popular color
for chicks and bunnies, followed by pink and then blue.
The sugar is colored in these giant drums.
The Peeps move on a conveyor belt.
They go into an enclosed area that's covered
so that when the sugar blows around, it's contained.
It's very quick.
Any sugar that doesn't stick
gets recycled for the next batch on the belt.
And Peeps aren't exactly known for their nutritional value.
Each chick has 6.8 grams of carbs,
and 6 of those come from sugar.
Then it's onto the most important part.
Peeps become Peeps when they get their decorations.
So when they're chicks and they get their eyes added,
when they're bunnies and they get their nose added,
that's when I would say they officially become Peeps.
The decorations are made with edible wax,
then squirted onto the Peeps with precision.
We have an entire QA team
that checks everything frequently
throughout the entire production process.
We also have associates who check for decoration
and making sure that their eyes are in the right spot.
We manufacture Peeps all year long.
We produce the most Peeps for Easter season,
but because they're on shelves starting really in January,
we are producing them in the summer and fall.
But there's a reason
Easter is the brand's time to shine.
Peeps are an Easter tradition.
Families have passed them down through the generations,
so if you grew up with them in your Easter basket,
you're likely going to put them
in your child's Easter basket.
But in order to keep up with Easter demand,
the company had to make a hard choice.
Part of the reason why we made the difficult decision
to not produce our Halloween, Christmas,
and Valentine's Day Peeps this past year
was to ensure that we had the supply
that people want for Easter production.
A pack of 10 marshmallows
can cost less than $2, and they're sold everywhere
in the United States and Canada
at grocery stores and pharmacies.
Though the pandemic shifted what consumers bought in 2020,
Just Born says Peep sales didn't drop.
All Easter Peeps had been in stores
for a couple of weeks at that point.
And in fact, a lot of our customers
still went out to buy Easter Peeps
because it was that sense of normalcy
people were seeking during the pandemic.
But this year, the company
has been adapting to changing trends.
It's launched initiatives
like Peepsonality Live on Instagram.
Welcome to the first ever Peepsonality Live.
I am a Peeps megafan.
Where it's helping people
make this Peeps play dough.
I just used all the Peeps that I had to make this,
but I will open a pack right now and snack while I craft.
Peeps have been around for more than 60 years,
but Just Born thinks there will always
be new ways to use them.
Peeps are a big part of American culture.
In fact, we see the characters as icons,
because you can do so much with them.
Whether you're crafting crowns
or just eating them plain, Peeps have staying power
and don't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.