Peter Halajian’s journey is a quintessential American dream, flavored with coconut and dark chocolate. In 1890, escaping hardship in Ottoman Turkey, this Armenian immigrant arrived in the United States seeking opportunity. He began working in a Naugatuck, Connecticut rubber factory, but his entrepreneurial spirit soon led him to the world of confectionery. This marked the beginning of the Peter Paul Manufacturing Company, the creators of the iconic Mounds bar, celebrated for its jingle: “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t,” advertising both Mounds and its nutty sibling, Almond Joy.
Halajian’s path mirrored that of many Armenians immigrating to America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Driven by the booming manufacturing sector, companies eagerly hired immigrants for entry-level positions. They found work in wool mills, iron and steel plants, and meatpacking facilities. Often, the allure was a specific company’s reputation, sometimes overshadowing the destination itself. Historian Robert Mitak notes Armenians arriving in Lynn, Massachusetts, sought the White Shoe Company more than the town near Boston. However, these immigrants were not content with factory jobs as a final destination. Like Halajian, many yearned for entrepreneurial independence. As one Armenian immigrant stated to the U.S. Immigration Commission, “As soon as I could I started a business on my own for I do not like to work for other people.”
Naugatuck, where Peter Halajian established himself, was nestled in a region ripe with early American industry. The Naugatuck River Valley, with its readily available and inexpensive water power, attracted industries to towns like Ansonia, Waterbury, Seymour, and Shelton. These towns, familiar to Metro North commuters, became hubs for brass, chemical, rubber, and other essential manufacturing.
Rubber dominated Naugatuck’s economy. In the 1840s, Charles Goodyear pioneered vulcanization here. The U.S. Rubber Company, a consolidation of smaller firms founded in 1892, became a major employer of immigrants. Many workers resided in tenements around Rubber Avenue, the very street that lent its name to naugahyde. Naugatuck was also the birthplace of Keds sneakers, produced by U.S. Rubber employees.
Despite rubber’s prominence, other businesses existed in Naugatuck. Gregg Pugliese, a Naugatuck native, became intrigued by the town’s rubber history during graduate school. His research led him to an even more captivating local story: Peter Halajian and the Mounds bar. This narrative, previously unknown to Pugliese, a social studies teacher at the local high school, resonated far more than rubber industry chronicles. Pugliese shared Halajian’s story in lectures and articles, bringing this piece of Naugatuck history to a wider audience.
Pugliese recounts that Halajian’s time at the rubber plant was short-lived. He disliked the factory’s rigid routine. After meeting his piecework quota, often by early afternoon, Halajian, with his daughters Mary and Lillian, sold fruit baskets and homemade candies. They catered to commuters at the Naugatuck train station and other stops along the busy Naugatuck Valley rail line. Halajian expanded his sales from door-to-door to a fruit stand.
By 1895, he opened his own candy store in Naugatuck, selling peanut brittle, licorice, lemon drops, caramels, and other treats, alongside fruit and ice cream. He used handbills to attract customers, boasting:
Peter Paul has very good food
You don’t throw any down the chute
His delicious ice cream your dreams will haunt
The more you eat it, the more you want
Ice cream soda the year round
No better soda was ever found
His homemade candy will make you fat
To Peter Paul, take off your hat.
Growing sales prompted Halajian to open another Naugatuck store and one in nearby Torrington.
To better connect with the American market, Peter Halajian shortened his last name to Paul. His stores became “Peter Paul.” This name change mirrored other Armenian businesses, like the Colombosian yogurt company, which became Colombo. John Colombosian explained, “Nobody could pronounce our name.”
From retail, Peter Paul ventured into manufacturing. In 1919, he partnered with five Armenian friends—Calvin K. Kazanjian, George Shamlian, Jacob Hagopian, Harry Kazanjian, and Jacob Choulijian—to establish the Peter Paul Manufacturing Company in New Haven. Pooling $6,000, each contributing $1,000, they began making candy in a 50’ by 60’ loft. Working at night due to lack of refrigeration, husbands and wives created candies fresh for morning sales. Their initial product line included lollipops, candy kisses, peanut brittle, and other popular candies. Their first success was the Konabar, a mix of nuts, fruit, chocolate, and coconut, which became their signature flavor. In 1921, partner George Shamlian developed the Mounds bar recipe: dark chocolate with a creamy coconut center. The Mounds bar debuted with the slogan, “What a bar of candy for five cents!”
Initially, Mounds bar production was labor-intensive. Each candy was shaped, rolled, hand-dipped in chocolate, and foil-wrapped. Rapidly increasing demand soon overwhelmed their small loft. To scale up, they needed a larger factory with machinery. Securing a $35,000 loan from Naugatuck National Bank, in 1922, they moved the Peter Paul Manufacturing Company to Naugatuck, where Peter Paul had started his candy journey. New equipment transformed their operation from handicraft to factory production. The 1930s saw further upgrades with chocolate coating, candy wrapping, and refrigeration machines. Peter Paul thrived even during the Depression, expanding their line beyond the Mounds bar with Thin Mints, After Dinner Mints, and Bachelor Bars (sesame seed-filled).
Peter Paul passed away in 1927, and Cal Kazanjian took over leadership. Kazanjian, as writer Liana Aghajanian notes, built customer relationships personally. Reporter Wesley S. Griswold in The Hartford Courant described, “Mr. Kazanjian used to carry a little box of ‘Mounds’ around with him. When he entered the broker’s office, he would take one of the coconut bars out of his pocket, remove its tinfoil cloak, deftly break the chocolate-covered confection and offer the broker a taste.”
World War II further boosted the company. Sugar and ingredient shortages led Peter Paul to focus on Mounds bar production. The military became their largest customer, purchasing 80% of their output, about 100,000 pounds daily. Mounds bars became essential high-energy rations for soldiers. One military chaplain even remarked, “There’s a lot of religion in a candy bar,” according to Patch.com’s Terri Takacs.
Peter Paul became the world’s largest coconut consumer. When the Philippines supply was cut off by the Japanese invasion, Peter Paul ingeniously created a Caribbean supply route. The “Flea Fleet,” small schooners, gathered coconuts from Caribbean islands, unbothered by German U-boats, and even gathered intelligence on Nazi ship routes. Greg Pugliese adds that Mounds provided empty coconut shells to the military for gas mask production.
Peter Paul’s military support remained largely unknown until a Nazi prisoner of war, extradited to New York, was found with a Mounds bar. The July 20, 1945 Naugatuck Daily News headline read, “German General Is Found to Be in Possession of Peter Paul Mounds.” The paper noted the candy bar “sticking out like a sore thumb” among his possessions, speculating it was taken from an American PX in Europe.
Post-war, Mounds bar fame grew. G.I.s and their families were already loyal customers. Almond Joy, its companion candy, launched in 1946. Peter Paul effectively used new media, radio and then television, to advertise. Mounds was the first candy company to advertise on network color TV in the 1950s, featuring Peter Paul Pixies singing about the “indescribably delicious” Mounds bar. Broadcasting personality Arthur Godfrey also became a brand spokesman.
Armenian pride in Peter Paul was strong. Lawyer Harry Mazadoorian recalls some Armenians investing in the company, receiving holiday dividends in candy bars. For some Armenian immigrants, like Silva Elmedejian, the Mounds bar taste was nostalgic. “When we first immigrated to America, Mounds bar was our family’s favorite,” she wrote online. “It was closest candy to middle eastern taste. Now I know why. Proud of our . . . Armenian ancestors. I will keep on eating them until I die.”
Like many smaller companies, Peter Paul eventually succumbed to acquisition. Cadbury Schweppes bought the company in 1978, and Hershey’s acquired it in 1988. In 2007, Hershey’s closed the Naugatuck plant, ending 85 years of Mounds production there. Longtime executive Jack Tatigian lamented to The Naugatuck Republican-American, “In Naugatuck, you worked for the rubber company, the glass company, or the candy company.” The factory, born from an Armenian immigrant’s vision, was closed, like a discarded candy wrapper.
