York, PA: What started as a practical joke among three co-workers at Precision Components Corporation of York, PA, turned into the newest flavor from Ben & Jerry’s of Waterbury, Vermont. A remarkable feat considering that there are about 3,000 flavor suggestions a year sent to Ben & Jerry’s, but not many with a story like Chubby Hubby. Chubby Hubby is chunks of chocolate covered peanut butter-filled pretzels in a rich vanilla malt ice cream with deep ripples of fudge and peanut butter. It’s now available nationwide.
The Chubby Hubby story started in the summer of 1991 when Tom Santacroce went nuts for two weeks trying to find Chubby Hubby, the latest flavor from his favorite ice cream maker, Ben & Jerry’s. He couldn’t find it because it only existed in the imagination of his two co-workers Wendy Gohn and Theresa Pratt.
“I guess I was driving Wendy and Theresa a little crazy about trying the latest flavor I liked from Ben & Jerry’s so they decided to drive me a little crazy by sending me out for a flavor that sounded great but didn’t exist,” Tom said.
But just when things seemed to have been forgotten, Wendy and Theresa surprised Tom with an actual pint of Chubby Hubby.
“We started with Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla as our base,” said collaborator Theresa Pratt, now living in Illinois. “We added chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter and chunks of brownies and topped it off by naming it Chubby Hubby,” she said.
“Tom loved it and said we should let Ben and Jerry know about it, so we did,” added Wendy Gohn, now working at Voith Hydro, Inc. in York.
“They started the same way we did,” said Jerry Greenfield, company vice-chair and co-founder. “Take a great vanilla ice cream and jam it full with tasty stuff."
Chubby Hubby was officially announced at a citywide celebration in York, PA in March. It was kicked off with a motorcycle parade of a hundred bikers from the Employee Riders Association of the Harley Davidson Motor Company in York. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s, were honored passengers there along with Wendy, Theresa and Tom. York Mayor Charles Robertson honored the company co-founders and the hometown flavor creators by declaring March 15, 1995 as “Chubby Hubby Day” in York.
Wendy and Theresa will receive free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or frozen yogurt for as long as Chubby Hubby’s on the market. Tom gets a free year’s supply of Ben & Jerry’s for his part in all of the fun.
“I guess this goes to show that it can pay to play with your food,” added Ben Cohen, company chair and co-founder.