Planters

Planters Nut & Chocolate Company

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Food processing
Founded	January 1, 1906 (1906-01-01) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States
Founder	Amedeo Obici, Mario Peruzzi
Headquarters	Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , United States
Area served	United States, Canada (licensed)
Products	Processed nuts, snack foods, peanut butter
Owner	Hormel Foods
Parent	Hormel Foods

Planters Nut & Chocolate Company represents a prominent American snack brand under the ownership of Hormel Foods. It specializes in processed nuts and is famously associated with its mascot, Mr. Peanut, originally designed by young Antonio Gentile in 1916. Over the years, the character’s appearance has been refined by various commercial artists.

History

The origins of Planters trace back to Italian immigrant Amedeo Obici in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. After working as a bellhop and selling fruit in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Obici established a fruit stand and invested in peanut roasting equipment. By 1906, he joined forces with Mario Peruzzi, who innovated a blanching technique that removed peanut shells and skins. With a modest team of six employees and simple machinery, they launched Planters. Obici prioritized product quality and brand integrity alongside competitive pricing to ensure steady expansion. The company was officially incorporated as Planters Nut and Chocolate Company in 1908. In 1913, Obici moved operations to Suffolk, Virginia, known as the peanut capital, where he set up the first large-scale manufacturing plant.

Planters changed hands in 1960 when it was acquired by Standard Brands, which later merged with Nabisco Brands in 1981. Kraft Foods took over Nabisco in 2000 and subsequently merged with H.J. Heinz Company in 2015, creating Kraft Heinz.

In February 2021, Kraft Heinz divested Planters along with its nut-related businesses to Hormel Foods for $3.35 billion; the deal was finalized on June 7.

Slogans

The brand has used various advertising slogans over time, such as:

• "The Nickel Lunch!" – promoting peanuts and peanut bars during the 1930s–1940s
• "Planters is the word for (good) Peanuts" – applied to multiple products in the 1950s
• "America is Nuts for Planters" – popular in the 1970s
• "Everybody Loves a Nut!" – used throughout the 1990s
• "Peanut butter with a crunch" – tagline for P.B. Crisps introduced in 1992
• "Relax. Go Nuts." – associated with Deluxe Mixed Nuts from 1997
• "Put Out the Good Stuff" – campaign spanning various products between 2003 and 2008
• "Instinctively Good" – used on assorted products around 2007
• "Naturally Remarkable" – featured on multiple offerings in 2011
• "Deliciously NUT-RITIOUS" – tagline for UK product lines launched in 2016
• "Harness the Power of the Peanut"
• "A Nut Above" – introduced in 2021
• "Become One With the Nut"
• "It's Nuts How Good They Are"
• "The Power is in the Peanut"

Products

Planters’ product portfolio includes:

• Cheez Balls (discontinued but briefly returned in 2018)
• Cheez Curls (discontinued with a short reintroduction in 2018)
• Cocktail Peanuts
• Cooking oil
• CornNuts (acquired during the late 1990s)
• Chocolate Covered Cashews
• Dry Roasted Peanuts
• Dry Roasted Sunflower kernels
• Honey Roasted Peanuts
• Honey Roasted Cashews
• Hot Peanuts
• Mixed Nuts
• NUT-rition Heart Healthy Mix
• Salted Cashews
• Salted Peanuts
• Salted Redskin Spanish Peanuts
• Tavern Nuts (discontinued but brought back in 2009)
• Smoked Almonds
• Peanut Butter
• Potato Chips
• Salted Caramel Peanuts
• Cocoa Peanuts
• Chipotle Peanuts
• Chili and Lime Peanuts
• Sea Salt and Vinegar Peanuts
• Heat Peanuts
• Smoked Peanuts
• Sweet N' Crunchy Peanuts
• Nut Clusters
• Sweet N' Spicy Peanuts

Discontinued

Formerly available items include:

• Jumbo Block Peanut Candy
• Coconut Balls
• Corn Chips
• P.B. Crackers
• P.B. Crisps (launched in 1992)
• Peanut Butter Chocolates
• Peanut Bar
• Peanut Butter candies
• Peanut Butter Fudge Cookies
• Onion Peanuts
• Garlic Peanuts
• Dry Roasted Cashews

International

In Canada, Johnvince Foods (JVF Canada) manufactures Planters products, including peanut butter, under a licensing agreement with Kraft Canada, which is now part of Hormel Foods.

Vegan and Vegetarian considerations

Certain Planters nut items, particularly larger peanut jars, include gelatin, rendering them inappropriate for those following vegetarian or vegan diets.