Candy in a Cup: The Boyer Candy Story

At Stuckey’s, we love a good rags-to-riches story – a story like that of how our founder, W.S. Stuckey, Sr., rose out of poverty in rural Georgia during the Great Depression and built the iconic roadside empire that still bears his name today.

The Boyer Candy story is another such story …

Candy Kitchen Beginnings

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and the story of Boyer Candy is a great example of that. During the Great Depression, brothers Bill and Bob Boyer needed a way to make more money to support their family, and they decided making candy was the way to do it.

It was a family affair from the start, with Bill making fudge and nut raisin clusters in their mother Emily’s kitchen. Mother and sister (also named Emily) would wrap the finished product, and Bob would sell their delicious treats door-to-door in their Altoona, Pennsylvania neighborhood. The candy was an immediate success.

The World’s First Cup Candy

As the demand for their candy grew, the Boyer brothers would often try making innovative varieties of candy to sell. One of those experiments included covering marshmallow with chocolate; however, they kept finding that the marshmallow remained too soft. Emily, their sister, offered a solution: Why not try using cupcake paper to hold everything in place? Emily’s idea worked perfectly, and it was on that day that the Mallo Cup became the world’s first cup candy.   

By 1936, their kitchen had grown too small for their Mallo-Cup-making operation and they moved it to a candy-making facility. That same year, they would also introduce Peanut Butter Cups and Smoothie Cups to their cup candy line. (Smoothie Cups are sort of like peanut butter cups, but coated in butterscotch instead of chocolate.)

Mallo Money

It was also around this time that Boyer Candy introduced one of the most innovative marketing ideas in the history of candy — the Mallo Cup “Play Money” program. Located on the inside of each Mallo Cup wrapper was a decorative piece of cardboard with a coin printed on it. The coin came in denominations ranging from five to 100 points. When the promotion first started, you could save these coins to get free candy. Today, you can redeem them for a candy rebate or cool Boyer merchandise like t-shirts, toys, or gift tins full of Mallo Cups.   

Boyer Brothers’ Legacy Continues

The Mallo Cup was good to the Boyer family, but by 1969, the two brothers were ready to retire. They sold Boyer Candy to corn syrup maker American Maize, which would go on to introduce even more flavors to the Boyer cup line, including Minty Mallo, Bunch O’ Nuts, Jamboree (a double peanut butter cup) and a combination marshmallow and peanut butter cup called the Fluffernutter.

New York entrepreneur Anthony Forgione bought the Boyer brand from American Maize in 1984. Forgione already owned four candy manufacturers as part of his Consolidated Brands company and felt that Boyer Candy would be a good addition. Forgione would also go on to expand the Boyer Candy line to include holiday-themed chocolate candies as well.

Eventually, Forgione moved all of his candy operations to the Boyer factory in Altoona, PA, keeping it all under Boyer name and still making the classic Mallo Cups. The legacy continued in 2019 as Forgione carried the Boyer brother’s torch by introducing a new cup candy — the Clark Peanut Butter Cup. Yep, it’s that mouth-watering Clark candy bar turned into a Boyer cup original.

Recently, like Stuckey’s, they were featured on the Food Network’s Unwrapped, reminding everyone what makes Mallo Cup so classically delicious.

Make a Stuckey’s Stop for Mallo Cups

Stuckey’s is proud to have recently added the Boyer line of candy products in every one of our Stuckey’s locations. The next time you stop at Stuckey’s for some of our world-famous Stuckey’s Pecan Log Rolls, you should also grab some classic Boyer’s Mallo Cups, Smoothie Butterscotch Cups, Clark Peanut Butter Cups and Jimmie Stix while you’re there. 

Oh, and one more thing, unlike Stuckey’s pecan log rolls, road trip treats, and other Stuckey’s merchandise, you can’t get these Boyer products online from stuckeys.com. So be sure to stop at your local Stuckey’s to get the classic taste that takes you back to the early days of this family-owned American candy company. Oh, and did we mention Boyer products are gluten-free?

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