Wrigley's chewing gum started out as a free gift for buying baking powder.

5 min readLast updated November 7, 2026

The short answer

Yes. William Wrigley Jr. began in 1891 selling soap, offered baking powder as a bonus, then in 1892 offered chewing gum with the baking powder. The free gum became so popular that it turned into his main product.

Why it's true

Wrigley moved to Chicago in 1891 to sell soap made by his father's company. To persuade shopkeepers to stock it, he threw in a premium, a free extra item. The premium he chose was baking powder, and he soon noticed that customers were more excited about the baking powder than the soap.

So he switched to selling baking powder and, in 1892, began offering free chewing gum with each can. History repeated itself. Stores and customers kept asking for more gum, so Wrigley decided the giveaway was the real business. His company launched Juicy Fruit and Wrigley's Spearmint in 1893, and both are still sold today.

The pattern is a neat lesson in listening to customers: twice in a row, the gift was more popular than the product.

By the numbers

1891

Wrigley arrives in Chicago selling soap

1892

Gum offered free with baking powder

1893

Juicy Fruit and Spearmint launch

1927

Ballpark renamed Wrigley Field

The backstory

Premiums were a common sales tactic in the late nineteenth century. Salesmen competed for limited shelf space in general stores, and a free bonus could tip the balance. Wrigley was unusually good at this, and later used premiums aimed at shopkeepers too, such as coffee grinders and display cases, in exchange for large orders.

He was also an early believer in heavy advertising. Wrigley spent large sums on newspaper ads, posters and signs, and in one famous campaign mailed free gum to people listed in telephone directories. The company grew into one of the largest gum makers in the world, and his fortune helped him buy the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Their ballpark was renamed Wrigley Field in 1927.

Worth remembering

Wrigley began by selling soap with free baking powder.
He then sold baking powder with free gum, and the gum won.
Juicy Fruit and Spearmint launched in 1893 and are still sold.

In context

Plenty of famous businesses ended up selling something other than what they planned. Companies pivot when customers show them where the demand really is. Wrigley's story is a vivid early example, because the evidence was so plain: twice, the thing he was giving away for free turned out to be what people actually wanted to buy.

The lesson still holds for modern businesses. Free samples, bundled extras and trial offers are all ways of finding out what customers really value. Wrigley simply paid unusually close attention to the answer and was willing to rebuild his company around it.

A closer look

Gum before Wrigley

People have chewed tree resins for thousands of years. In North America, spruce gum was sold commercially in the nineteenth century, and later chicle, a natural latex from sapodilla trees in Central America, became the standard gum base. Thomas Adams helped popularise chicle gum in the 1870s.

So Wrigley did not invent chewing gum. What he did was sell it with remarkable energy, add appealing flavours, and back it with advertising on a scale few rivals could match.

Advertising as a strategy

Wrigley believed that people needed to see a product repeatedly before buying it. He kept spending on advertising even during downturns, betting that a familiar name would hold its place when times improved. That approach became standard practice for consumer brands.

His sampling campaigns, which put free gum directly into people's hands, echoed his original premium idea. Getting the product into a mouth once was often enough to make a customer.

Flavour as a selling point

Early gums often tasted of little more than resin. Adding sweeteners and mint or fruit flavours made gum something people craved rather than tolerated.

Juicy Fruit and Spearmint gave customers clear choices and recognisable packs, which helped Wrigley's advertising stick in people's minds.

Related facts

Another product that found its real market by accident Play-Doh began as wallpaper cleaner.

A different kind of business pivot Bubble Wrap was first meant as wallpaper.

Big companies often start small and odd Samsung began selling dried fish and noodles.

In tech, the starting product can be just as surprising Nokia started as a paper mill.

Key terms

Premium: A free bonus item offered with a purchase to encourage sales.
Chicle: A natural gum from the sapodilla tree, used as an early chewing gum base.
Pivot: A business change of direction toward a more promising product or market.

Myth vs reality

Myth

Wrigley set out to build a chewing gum empire from day one.

Reality

Gum was his third product, first used only as a free incentive to sell baking powder.