Skippy Peanut Butter: The History of an Empire

A look into the historic journey of Skippy peanut butter. Starting in Lexington, Kentucky and rising to the 2nd most popular brand of peanut butter worldwide. Who started Skippy and where is the company now?

Skippy Peanut Butter was first introduced in 1932 by Joseph Rosefield. The Lexington, Kentucky native, chemist, and businessman named his peanut butter after a popular newspaper cartoon character. After a little bit of a trademark debate over the name, Rosefield won and the company is now ranked number 2 worldwide in peanut butter sales.

During the early 1900s, peanut butter was new in America and seen as a luxury. It was sold in high-end restaurants that only the rich frequented. The more popular peanut butter became the more farmers started to grow peanuts. This reduced the overall price of peanuts and peanut butter, making it more available to everyone. It was around this same time that many people were experimenting with peanut butter and attempting to perfect the recipe along with the process of making it. The invention of peanut butter.

Rosefield was a highly influential person in the early days of peanut butter. He was the first person to add hydrogenated oils to peanut butter which made it creamier and prevented oil from rising to the top of the jar. Hydrogenated oils are heated oils that have added hydrogen which keeps peanut butter more stable. Since Rosefield already owned and ran a canning company in California he decided to passively profit from his discovery. The original process was sold to the Peter Pan company in 1922.

80% of peanut butter sold is hydrogenated, vastly outselling natural.

However, around 1931/1932 Peter Pan withheld some of Rosefield’s licensing fees. Rosefield responded by reworking his original recipe, improved it and started selling his own peanut butter in 1932. He named it Skippy after a popular newspaper cartoon. Actually, maybe Rosefield borrowed a bit more than just the name. See for yourself in the image below. The trademark battle was won by Rosefield in the 60s but remains in and out of the legal system up until today.

Rosefield already had a successful food packing company so it was easy to add peanut butter into their product offerings. He marketed his improved formula as less sticky and better tasting than others on the market with a 1-year shelf life. The best part of knowing your competition’s weaknesses is knowing their formula. Since Rosefield literally wrote the Peter Pan formula it was easy to produce a better product.

In 1935 Skippy sold its peanut butter in the first wide-mouth jars which are the standard jars you see today. Right around the same time, Skippy produced the world’s first jar of crunchy peanut butter. It was a great addition to peanut butter varieties and just about every company followed the trend. It’s safe to say that Rosefield made such a huge impact on peanut butter that his inventions are still popular today.

Skippy remained a staple peanut butter company and in 1955 Rosefield sold Skippy to Best Foods for 6 million dollars. Unilever bought Best Foods in 2000 making Skippy theirs. In 2013 Hormel purchased Skippy from Unilever for $700 million which spiked stock value. Skippy is still currently owned by Hormel.

Today, Skippy is the top-selling peanut butter in China, 2nd within the US and 2nd worldwide. The company generates over $370 million in sales annually with no signs of slowing down. They offer peanut putter ranging in sizes from single-serve to huge 5-pound tubs. Skippy also produces a number of peanut butter snacks including frozen peanut butter sandwiches to peanut butter snack bites. For all the TEAM CRUNCHY fans out there, don’t worry, the original creators of crunchy peanut butter still offer this variety calling it “super chunk” style.