The History of Butterfinger

Butterfinger bars were created by the Curtiss Candy Company and hit the market in 1923. The company held a public contest to name the candy bar and “butterfinger” — a common insult in baseball — was the winner. To drum up support for Butterfinger and another new candy bar that debuted around the same time (Baby Ruth), owner Otto Schnering decided to attach tiny parachutes to his candy bars and drop them from planes over New York City. Unfortunately, this created a large amount of chaos, but the marketing ploy was successful and Butterfinger bars quickly gained popularity. This was further increased by the candy bar’s many famous appearances on The Simpsons. Over the years, ownership of Butterfinger changed hands multiple times and there’s a rumor that the original Curtiss Candy Company recipe may have been lost between Nabisco taking ownership of Butterfinger in 1981 and the selling of the brand to Nestle in 1989. It’s believed that Nestle did its best to approximate the original Butterfinger recipe and fans did not notice any major changes at the time. However, in 2018, the brand was sold to Ferrero and the new owners decided to change the recipe in 2019. There was a period of initial outrage, but the new and improved Butterfinger ended up being a success and sales reportedly improved 17.7%! Today, Butterfinger bars remain a beloved candy and are sold all over America as well as in many other countries around the world.