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Just Born
Throughout its 75-year history, Hot Tamales has achieved remarkable cultural penetration. From its origins as a creative solution for leftover materials, it is now America’s leading cinnamon candy.
Candy entrepreneur Sam Born opened a small retail store and factory in Brooklyn, New York, in 1923. The shop proudly displayed playful confections with an emphasis on freshness, which inspired the creation of Hot Tamales.
Sam Born’s son, Bob, joined the company in 1946 after serving in the Navy during World War II. He brought engineering expertise to the candy-making process. His scientific approach to candy manufacturing would later enable him to mechanize production processes and develop new products.
The spicy, cinnamon-flavored, chewy Hot Tamales candies were introduced in 1950. Bob Born, son of Sam Born, invented them by finding a creative way to rework Mike and Ike candies into a spicer profile. Bob used leftover licorice and added cinnamon to it.
Just Born filed for the trademark on Hot Tamales in 1962. This same year, Hot Tamales boxes started featuring their famous mascot, the Hot Tamales Kid.
The box style with the diagonal banner was adopted in the middle 70s and discontinued along with the Hot Tamales Kid around 1986. That same year, Just Born radically redesigned and launched the package publicly.
In 1979, Just Born launched the Cinnamon Apple! flavor. Not quite Cinnamon Apple Hot Tamales, but not quite them, either.
Just Born introduced Super Hot Tamales, which were first released in 1993. This was a spicier version of the original and not for the faint of heart.
Hot Tamales became the top-selling cinnamon candy in 1999. To meet demand for these and other products, the company added 135,000 square feet to the Just Born plant 50 miles north of Philadelphia.
Starting in 2003, Just Born teamed with FitzBradshaw Racing for NASCAR Busch Series races and sponsored Daytona’s Winston Cup Pepsi 400 Race. Driver Kerry Earnhardt piloted the team’s No. 12 Hot Tamales Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
In 2005-2006, the next major redesign of Just Born’s product line was introduced, and Hot Tamales got their new fireball mascot. In 2006, Super Hot Tamales would be reintroduced and rebranded as Hot Tamales Fire.
A spearmint version, Hot Tamales Ice, was marketed in the late 2000s. But the icier version was short-lived and discontinued soon after.
In 2011, Just Born released Hot Tamales 3 ALARM with different spicy profiles. Each box contained a mix of three candies: orange (hot), pinkish (hotter), and dark red (hottest).
In 2004, Hot Tamales replaced its sunglasses-wearing sun mascot with a flaming fireball character, and seven years later, it replaced that mascot with a more intense look featuring the “Fierce Cinnamon” mascot.
In 2014, Just Born released Hot Tamales Tropical Heat, featuring three candies. The candies combine the original pungent, spicy flavor with lemon, mango, and pineapple flavors.
Hot Tamales Ice was reintroduced in 2018, combined with the regular Hot Tamales, and marketed as Hot Tamales Fire & Ice.
Hot Tamales remains the number one cinnamon candy in the USA and is usually positioned next to Mike and Ike in candy retail locations. Just Born is the tenth-largest candy company in the country.
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