2016 NEPA MADE

MADE
Below: Workers at Reilly
Finishing Technologies
stack powder coated
perforated sheet metal
onto pallets.
Special section
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Reilly Finishing Technologies in Nanticoke provides plating and
powder coating services to companies across the nation. // Page 9
Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader
NEPA MADE
2 Sunday, April 24, 2016
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
Giant crayons decorate the square in front of the ‘Crayola Experience’ building in downtown Easton,
about 80 miles from Wilkes-Barre.
Times Leader
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
‘Crayologist’ Ashlyn Moyer gives a live-theater demonstration about how Crayola crayons are made.
Crayola factory pumps out 13 million crayons per day
By Mary Therese Biebel
[email protected]
EASTON — If you lined up
the 2.5 billion crayons Crayola
has made so far, a perky “crayologist” explained, you could
encircle the globe six times and,
thanks to the Crayola factory in
this Lehigh Valley community,
13 million new crayons make
that imaginary line longer every
day.
Those are some of the fun
facts visitors can learn when
they visit downtown Easton for
a family-friendly “Crayola Experience” that offers four floors of
crafts, coloring and room to run
around.
“They could easily spend
five hours here,” mom Amanda
Bupp, of Quakertown, said as
she watched 4-year-old Hailee
and 3-year-old Bryson draw
pictures on a “Doodle Board” —
one of the many stations where
children can show their creativity.
“Just a few more seconds,”
James Pedersen, of Branchburg,
New Jersey, told his 3-yearold daughter, Veronica, as she
waited for a timer to signal the
crayon she had placed into a
molding machine had melted,
cooled and was ready to emerge
in the shape of a tiny dinosaur.
For another mini project,
Veronica and her sister, Cynthia,
2, maneuvered paper under dripping wax to create abstract art.
On a recent Thursday afternoon, children did not have to
wait very long — or at all — to
work at the stations, but staffer
Matthew Follin said the place
gets very busy on weekends and
during the summer.
But it certainly seems worth
waiting for a chance to place a
token in a machine and personalize a crayon, perhaps taking
home one you’ve named after
yourself or a friend.
And kids seemed to love the
“Water Works” display, in which
they could propel toy boats
shaped like Crayola crayons
through an 85-foot water table
canal, complete with a system of
locks.
Another popular area is the
“Crayon Factory” where children
and their parents can watch a
live-theater demonstration of
some 1200 crayons coming out
of their mold.
The recipe for Crayola crayons hasn’t changed since 1903,
“crayologist” Ashlyn Moyer told
the families. It’s still non-toxic
wax, clay and pigments that
Hailee and Bryson Bupp, of Quakertown, draw pictures on a ‘Doodle Board’ at
bring about the basic rainbow
the Crayola Experience facility.
plus such exciting new colors
as Mauvelous, Jazzberry Jam,
Timberwolf, Purple Mountains’
Majesty and Electric Lime.
The manufacturing facility
that actually produces the 13
million crayons each day is just
outside of Easton, 5.5 miles
away from the Crayola Experience. But the place for families
to see how crayons are made and
take home their own artwork is
in downtown Easton,
at 30 Centre Square.
Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109
or on Twitter @BiebelMT
James Pedersen, of Branchburg, New Jersey, watches his 3-year-old daughter,
Veronica, remove a little wax dinosaur from a drawer. The dinosaur is made from
a crayon that was melted and reformed.
NEPA MADE
Times Leader
Sunday, April 24, 2016 3
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NEPA MADE
Times Leader
Reilly Finishing Technologies in Nanticoke has local and national contracts
to provide metal finishing services which include plating and powder
coating to a wide range of industries.
The company began as Reilly Plating Company in 1969, under the eye
of Charles M. Reilly. The first building was a garage on New Hancock
Street, in Wilkes-Barre. In 1970, the business made the move to Alden
Road, Nanticoke. The current owner of the facility, Joseph Reilly,
took control of the company in 1990 and expanded the plant capacity
and production equipment. Reilly currently operates 3 facilities in
Nanticoke totaling nearly 100,000 square feet.
Reilly recently made significant capital improvements which include
a Wagner Prima Cube Super Powder Coating Booth and totally
automated Anodize/Chemical Film plating line.
Reilly Finishing Technologies is certified in over 10 specialty areas
including the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation
Program and AS9100. Both of those qualifications attest to the
highest quality standards in the metal finishing business.
The company employs 100 local people. Larry Marianacci, Vice
President of Finance, Sales and Administration at Reilly said the
business is “large enough to service major industrial projects and
small enough to maintain that “family friendly” work environment.”
Kathy Kobylarz, HR Manager for Reilly Finishing Technologies, said
the company promotes from within.
Reilly’s award winning finished products are shipped both nationally and internationally.
Reilly provides finishing services to a broad spectrum of customers from the aerospace, transportation, defense, oil-gas-water,
construction, commercial storage, as well as other varied industries.
570-735-7777 • 130 Alden Road, Nanticoke, PA 18634 • [email protected]
Times Leader
NEPA MADE
Sunday, April 24, 2016 5
Giving a shout out for our Peeps
By Mark Guydish
[email protected]
You think you know a lot about Peeps.
For example, only a rookie is unaware
that manufacturer Just Born, Inc. is actually named after founder Sam Born, a
Russian who immigrated to the United
States via France and shifted his candymaking business from Brooklyn to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where it thrives as
Easter’s most popular candy.
Even if you didn’t have the data and
had to guess, you’d probably bet that each
year enough of the ubiquitous sweets are
made to circle the earth — three times,
reportedly.
And you’ve likely heard of experiments
proving the confection didn’t dissolve in
water, acetone, sulfuric acid or sodium
hydroxide. Even when tests showed the
mallow mushed in phenol, the eyes eerily
remained.
But unless you’ve got a PhD in Peepsology, you are more likely to have filled out
a perfect March Madness bracket than to
know the endless iterations of the candy
that ate Easter.
(BTW, if Peepsology doesn’t exist, it
probably should — we’re talking to you,
Lehigh U., and wouldn’t “Pulverizin’
Peeps” be a more memorable mascot
than the Mountain Hawks?)
A few lesser known tidbits:
• Neither Oscar Mayer nor the pope
have anything over the marshmallow
chicks. Yes, Virginia, the Peepsmobile is
real.
• Nor does Apple have anything over
the sugar-coated faux fowl. You can,
indeed, walk into a brick-and-mortar
Peeps & Company store, though they
are sparse (at Center Valley and at the
corporate headquarters in Bethlehem).
No “genius bar,” but, then, Apple doesn’t
sell Peeps T-shirts, hats, slippers, sneakers, aprons, bracelet charms, golf balls or
hoodies (Peeps hoodies presumably give
you tweet cred).
• Remember the silly 1980s video
game “Joust” in which knights lanced at
each other astride flying ostriches? Well,
Peeps can beat that image out of your
head. Take two Peeps, stick a toothpick in
each, face them in a microwave and nuke
the birds for a round of “Peeps jousting.”
As the snacks expand, the toothpicks
move forward. First Peep to pierce his
partner wins. Seriously. YouTube it.
• Any Peeps person knows Just Born
makes other candies, including Hot
Tamales, Peanut Chews, Jelly Beans,
assorted chocolate-enhanced sweets and,
of course, Mike and Ike. Some may even
know Mike and Ike split up for a spell,
with one name crossed out on every
box sold (making them Mike or Ike?).
But did you know there have also been
Peeps milks and Peeps lip gloss? Which
raises the questions, how do you milk a
Peep, and was the gloss for humans — or
marshmallows?
• Peeps are clothes. You can find images of Peeps dresses, pants, hats and even
bras (giving a whole new meaning to the
phrase “peep show”). Keep this in mind,
Lady Gaga, during your next Easter season concert.
• Peeps are art, or at least aspire to
it. Peeps have been used in all kinds of
works, most popularly in dioramas —
multiple companies and agencies sponsor
annual Peeps diorama contests. The biggest may be from the Washington Post,
which recently marked a decade of dioramas by posting past images, including
“Everybody Peeps”: Upstairs, two marshmallow bunnies sit on toilets, reading;
below, pipes run the refuse to “fluffer”
jars of marshmallow. The ultimate in
recycling?
• And lastly (actually, as some 2 billion
Peeps are now sold annually, there may
never be a “lastly”), no props to Peeps
would be complete without mentioning
the December PeepsFest in Bethlehem,
complete with the Peeps Chick Drop to
ring in the New Year.
True, the drop actually happens many
hours before midnight, but that’s just in
keeping with the fact that, no matter how
old they are, Bethlehem-bred Peeps are
forever “Just Born.”
Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @
TLMarkGuydish
Not only is the story of Peeps sugar coated, you can get them chocolate coated, too.
The question for macho men is: Do chicks go for guys in a Peepsmobile?
Submitted photos
Submitted photos
6 Sunday, April 24, 2016
NEPA MADE
Times Leader
Hershey factory makes well-known candy products
By Travis Kellar
[email protected]
HAZLETON — Do you have a sweet
tooth? Was it particularly hard to resist that
Kit Kat during Easter?
Chances are, that scrumptious treat came
from right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
The Hershey Company, which produces
everything from traditional Hershey Bars
to Twizzlers, has a plant on Scotch Pine
Drive. Hershey spokesman Jeff Beckman said
products produced at the factory include Kit
Kats, Cadbury and Caramello Bars, Hershey’s
Drops and Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars.
According to the Greater Hazleton CAN
DO’s website, the factory produces approximately 100 million pounds of chocolate every
year.
According to Hershey’s website, the company obtained the factory after purchasing
the U.S. confectionery operations of Cadbury
Schweppes on Aug. 25, 1988. Along with
the plant in Hazleton, Hershey also obtained
plants in York and Naugatuck, CT.
Hershey entered into a licensing agreement with Cadbury at the time to manufacture, market and distribute Cadbury’s American confectionery brands.
Beckman said the plant employs nearly 500
people for year-round operation with spring
and summer being the busiest times at the
factory.
“The plant is an important part of Hershey’s North American manufacturing network,” Beckman said.
Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews
Times Leader
NEPA MADE
Sunday, April 24, 2016 7
Family, tradition drive history in serving sweet treats
By Joe Dolinsky
[email protected]
The Mayans may have dropped the
ball as far as their prowess in predicting certain doom, but don’t ever say
they didn’t get it right when it comes to
chocolate.
Renowned thinkers say the South
American civilization’s best and brightest innovators served a sugarless liquid
version of the crushed cocoa bean to its
elite. Though it was a far cry from the
sweet treat we know today, it was good
enough a few thousand years ago to be
immortalized on the walls of ancient
temples and dubbed the “food of the
gods.”
While Northeastern Pennsylvania’s
history of chocolate doesn’t stretch back
quite as far, few would argue it’s not as
rich.
Chocolate shops bearing family names
anchored neighborhoods for decades and
many still satisfy taste buds today.
A heartfelt hobby
One thing Gertrude Hawk always said,
according to her grandson: “Everything
we make has to be the best, because
every box has my name on it.”
“I think people who work at our place
making the product do still hear those
words,” David Hawk said. “People care,
and that’s because there is a real person
that’s behind all this.”
The Gertrude Hawk chairman of the
board recalled fondly the attitude of his
grandmother, who 80 years ago, founded
the business that has today ballooned
into a third-generation, multi-state and
multi-faceted franchise employing 600
people in about 60 stores.
Gertrude Hawk, her grandson said,
started making chocolates in her kitchen
in 1915 to get by during the Great
Depression. She would have never
dreamt the business would come this far,
he said.
The chocolates, staples of Easter, First
Holy Communions and Valentine’s Days
for decades, are only a fraction of what
allows the business to thrive, David
Hawk said. Specialized products made
for ice creams are made and sold to just
about every ice cream manufacturer in
the country, right down to the miniature
fish found in every pint of Ben & Jerry’s
“Phish Food.”
Hawk said the area has a strong
heritage of “little chocolate shops” and
that tradition keeps customers loyal to
their product. All othe shops that made
up that fraternity stood the test of time
because of their product and people recognize that, he said.
Meanwhile, Gertrude Hawk Chocolates continues to live up to customers’
standards, he said.
“Seeing it grow and develop and seeing our family participate in the business
and the generations that grew along with
it, it’s been a very rewarding thing to
see,” Hawk said.
Humble beginnings
Chocolate is in the Mootz family
bloodline.
Before Michael Mootz Candies, there
was Mootz’s Imported & Domestic
Groceries in Pottsville. During one Eas-
ter holiday, co-owner Catherine Mootz
made a batch too many of chocolate and
decided to sell the leftovers in the store.
The treats were a hit with customers,
who demanded more and more of the
product.
To meet the demand, Mootz Candies
was born in 1919.
Today, Jason Mootz is the fourth
generation to run the family owned company which, in October 2012, moved to
a larger location at 1246 San Souci Parkway in Hanover Township to accommodate the needs of its growing business.
The store went from a 5,600 squarefoot space in a strip mall to an 8,000
square-foot space to expand its retail end
and add more parking for customers,
said Mootz, 33.
“We used to be a sign in the middle of
other signs,” he said. “Here, it’s all up to
us.”
The move also let the business dip
into ice cream sales, Mootz said, with an
old school feel behind its “clean and classic” design.
Mootz credited his family for molding
the business into what it is today, but
said it continues to evolve. A website
was launched in 2002 that lets customers, especially those who moved out of
the area, order Mootz candies online.
Mootz believes the demand for chocolate is a testament to the quality of shops
in the area.
“We’ve got a great history in this area,”
Mootz said. “There’s no question about
that.”
Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @
JoeDolinskyTL
Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader
Gertrude Hawk Chocolates store supervisor Emily
Reichart makes pecans glazed in cinnamon sugar
and vanilla at the store in Kingston.
Michael Mootz Candies chocolates.
Submitted photo
Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader
Chocolate-dipped strawberries by Gertrude Hawk
Chocolates.
8 Sunday, April 24, 2016
NEPA MADE
Times Leader
Local craft breweries a growing business
By John Erzar
[email protected]
Fred Adams | for Times Leader
Mark Lehman and Chris Miller make a toast in their new back bar at Breakers Brewery on Northampton Street
in Wilkes-Barre Township.
Fred Adams | for Times Leader
Mark Lehman stirs the hops in a batch of beer brewing while Chris Miller watches.
It’s not about thinking outside
the box. It’s about thinking outside
the case — as in a case of that
mass-produced beer made by global
breweries like Budweiser, Coors
and Miller.
Craft beer breweries, sometimes
put under the umbrella of microbreweries, have put a dent in the
industry over the past decade.
While craft beers will likely never
win the David vs. Goliath battle,
the little guys have landed several
punches.
The area is the home of three
craft breweries — Breaker Brewing
Company in Wilkes-Barre Township, North Slope Brewing Company in Dallas and Susquehanna
Brewing Company in Pittston.
These new beer makers are all a
short distance from the Stegmaier
Brewery, which was founded in
1857 and is one of the oldest beer
producers in the nation.
According to Brewers Association
statistics for 2015, craft breweries
have seen a 12.8 percent growth in
one year. Dollar sales have grown
by 15 percent and craft breweries
make up 12.2 percent of the market.
“It’s a return to local interests,”
said Fred Maier, who helped start
Susquehanna Brewing Company in
2010. “It’s kind of funny talking to
my dad and him talking to his dad
where 50 or 60 years ago if it came
from St. Louis or Milwaukee, it had
to be better. Then, if it came from
Germany, it had to be better.
“We kind of lost the appeal of
freshness in our beer.”
Another reason for the uptick
is craft breweries can offer variety
because of their smaller operations.
Breaker Brewing Company
opened in 2013 in the former St
Joseph’s Monastery & School on
Northampton Street. Founders
Chris Miller and Mark Lehman
started home brewing and decided
to turn the hobby into a business.
“People just want variety,” Miller
said. “A lot of beer traditionally —
Miller, Bud, Coors — are all pretty
much the same type. It’s a light
lager or pilsner. Once people realize there is a lot more to beer, just
like wine, you get into it and you
get hooked. Then you start looking for some more wild, crazy type
of beers. And brewers are making
them. The crazier the beer is, the
more sought after it is.”
Breaker’s beers include a chocolate peanut butter porter and a
strawberry banana wheat ale. Those
not too daring could try something
closer to mass-marketed beer.
“If people come in and mention
what they like, we can try to match
them up to what we have on hand,”
said Vanessa Warren, who opened
North Slope on Route 309 in the
former Dough Company building
about a year ago. “We always have
Gateway, which is like a much better Heineken. A lot of people love
it. It has a lot higher alcohol content. If they like the place, they’ll
come back and try other beers.”
Craft breweries cannot offer
beers other than the ones they
make because of licensing. Then
again, why would you go to a craft
brewery for a Miller Lite? The idea
is to try something different and,
perhaps, unexpected even to the
brewers themselves.
“You don’t always know exactly
how they’ll turn out,” Miller said of
the craft beers. “Some turned out
better than expected. Unless something really goes wrong, none of
them are really bad. We just might
not make it again. It’s just a matter
of opinion.”
Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter
@TLJohnErzar
NEPA MADE
Times Leader
Sunday, April 24, 2016 9
Reilly Finishing Technologies provides plating, powder coating services
By Melanie Mizenko
[email protected]
NANTICOKE — If you’ve ever wondered where the metal finishing and
powder coating of General Electric’s
airplanes come from, look no further than
Luzerne County’s backyard. Reilly Finishing Technologies in Nanticoke has local
and national contracts to provide plating,
and powder coating services to companies
across the nation.
Reilly Finishing Technologies began as
Reilly Plating Company in 1969, under the
eye of Charles M. Reilly. The first building
was a garage on New Hancock Street in
Wilkes-Barre. In 1970, the business made
the move to Alden Road, Nanticoke.
Harveys Lake resident Joseph Reilly,
current owner of the company, bought out
his father in 1990 as well as added to the
facility.
“We’re successful because we’re so
spread out (in what we do),” Reilly said.
The closest other plating company is Triple Cities Metal Finishing in Binghamton,
New York.
Reilly Finishing Technologies recently
spent $500,000 on a Wagner Prima Cube
Super Booth, which Operations Manager
Doug Krafjack calls “Joe’s pride and joy.”
The super booth sprays colored particles onto a surface, which are then heated
and fused into a smooth coating. The end
result, according to Krafjack, is a uniform
surface, which looks like a painted surface.
The booth joins the “custom made”
lines that coat with electroless nickle — a
smooth uniformed finish which does not
build up on edges and plates — tin and
zinc, among others.
Reilly Finishing Technologies is certified in over 10 specialty areas, including
the National Aerospace and Defense
Contractors Accreditation Program and
AS9100. Both of those qualifications
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The company employs around 100
people, most who live within walking distance of the facility.
“(There is a) great work ethic in Nanticoke,” Reilly said.
Larry Marianacci, vice president of
finance, sales and administration at Reilly
Finishing Technologies, said the business
is “big enough for many projects and small
enough for everyone to work together.”
Because there is an “art” to the coating
of products, Reilly said the employees take
pride in their work.
“Everyone listens to each other,” Marianacci said.
Kathy Kobylarz, office manager, said the
company promotes from within.
Kobylarz said the company is family
and community oriented. Marianacci said
Reilly bought parcels of land next door to
building No. 2; the company uses one for
warehousing and the other as an employee
break room.
“We take care of our own,” Reilly said.
“What we raise, goes back out,” according to Kobylarz. She noted the company
sponsored West Side Playground playground equipment last year and is in the
works of sponsoring computers in police
cars for a local police department. Kobylarz also highlighted the Christmas Tree
Lane in Nanticoke the company sponsors
during Christmas.
Most products, though coated locally,
are shipped nationally and internationally.
Some of the company’s contracts
include painting bus ceilings for a bus line
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and coating store
shelves for a North American box store.
Reilly is most proud of the contract for
the coating of a military-contracted valve,
which they’ve had for eight years.
Reach Melanie Mizenko at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @
TL_MMizenko
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NEPA MADE
Times Leader
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NEPA MADE
Sunday, April 24, 2016 11
Elizabeth Baumeister | Times Leader
Elizabeth Baumeister | Times Leader
Spring Hills Farm, North Abington Township, produces pure maple syrup, which can be purchased in its
sugar house near Dalton, from the Everything Natural store in downtown Clarks Summit and at several
locations in Philadelphia. Small orders are also shipped throughout the US and Canada.
Susan Constantine, left, and Devaki Chayut look out the door of the Spring Hills
Farm sugar house in North Abington Township where, on average, between 500 and
600 gallons of maple syrup are made each year.
This is one sugary sweet business
By Elizabeth Baumeister
[email protected]
NORTH ABINGTON TWP. —
Although Vermont and Canada are
known for maple syrup production,
Northeastern Pennsylvania has its own
share of sugar shacks, one of which is
Dalton in Lackawanna County.
Spring Hills Farm, previously a dairy
farm, was purchased by Robert and Louise Hull in 1945 and is now owned by
their four daughters, Susan Constantine,
Margaret Hull, Lucy Hull and Elizabeth
Zeitlyn. Constantine’s daughter Devaki
Chayut and her husband, Uri Chayut,
run the maple syrup operation.
Chayut said the best part about making maple syrup is the manual labor
involved.
I really love the physical aspect,” she
said. “I really love to work hard and I
really love to be outside.”
It’s a good thing, because there is hard
work aplenty.
The self-proclaimed tree hugger
explained the process begins with the
tapping of trees when the freeze-thaw
cycle is just right. When the ground
freezes and warms up, the sap is drawn
up through the trees. When it freezes
again, a “re-setting of the pump” occurs,
bringing a “fresh surge of sap.” The sap
will continue to run for about one or two
days.
“We collect it in huge tanks,” Chayut
explained. “We have them as large as a
1,000 gallon capacity, and we collect the
sap and pump it up to a holding tank.”
It is then boiled in an evaporating tank
fueled by wood. Someone must be present at all times, as the fire needs to be
stoked every 10 to 15 minutes in order
to maintain the correct temperature and
density.
“It’s a very technical and delicate
process,” Chayut said. “We’re doing
readings with gauges all the time – on
temperature and on density and sugar
concentration.”
“And at the same time that they’re boiling, which has to be during a run when
the temperature is right, they have to
also be collecting from all the different
tanks so that things aren’t overflowing,”
added Constantine. “Because when it
runs, it can run.”
After the syrup comes out of the evaporator, it is filtered again and brought to
the proper temperature for canning.
In a good year, 40 gallons of sap will
produce one gallon of syrup. This year,
it took 60 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Chayut said this is due to a
lower sugar content, one factor of which
may be the incredibly mild winter.
She said this year’s production was
average, but required an earlier start and
more effort than usual.
“We saw the earliest boil that we have
ever seen in our 20 years of making
syrup,” she said. “We boiled in January.
We’ve never boiled in January.”
The process normally begins in March.
Chayut said it was because of the
foresight of her cousin Dylan Zeitlyn, of
Vermont, that her family was prepared to
begin tapping early this year in order to
collect every drop.
Credit is also due to Zeitlyn for the
start of the maple syrup operation in
1994.
“He had this beautiful realization
that we had all these sugar maples,”
Chayut said. “He was in a sort of maple
syrup culture there in Vermont where it
occurred to him that with so many sugar
maples he knew we had here on the family farm, we could try something.”
So they did.
And it worked.
Spring Hills Farm now produces about
500 to 600 gallons of syrup during an
average year and more than 700 gallons
in a good year.
The syrup is made, bottled and labeled
on the farm. A small amount is offered
for sale via the honor system from the
sugar house. It is also sold at several locations in the Philadelphia area and can be
found on the shelves of Everything Natural in downtown Clarks Summit.
The family also maintains a flock of
about 35 Jacob sheep for its wool and a
small flock of chickens for its eggs. They
grow vegetables to supply the family’s
own kitchen and also recently began
growing blueberries to sell. The farm’s
other main product is its Christmas
trees, which area families cut down during the holiday season.
Reach Elizabeth Baumeister at 570-704-3943 or on
Twitter @AbingtonJournal.
12 Sunday, April 24, 2016
NEPA MADE
Times Leader
Natives stock up on Middleswarth
potato chips whenever they can
By Derek Levarse
[email protected]
Middleswarth employee Wayne Folk stacks boxes of potato chips at the
company’s headquarters in Middleburg.
It’s a line the Middleswarth family hears all the time.
Whether it’s a holiday or a vacation, plenty of people who grew
up in Northeast Pennsylvania
need to satisfy their snack craving. And those distinctive bags of
Middleswarth can be tough to find
outside the area.
All the more reason to stock up
when you can.
“We hear that quite a bit,”
company vice president Bret Middleswarth said. “Whether they’re
home for the holidays or they’re
coming back from somewhere like
Florida, they always say they make
sure to buy some to take back there
with them.”
Bret Middleswarth is the fourth
generation to work for the business
his grandfather, Bob, founded. The
company, Ira Middleswarth & Son
Inc., is named after his great grandfather.
While the company started in
Snyder County back in 1942 —
first in Beavertown and now with
headquarters in Middleburg — its
presence in Wilkes-Barre is large.
The chips are available in most any
grocery store or convenience mart,
as well as at many bars.
Between Middleswarth and Wise
Foods in Berwick, this corner of
the state has its own strong representation in the so-called Pennsylvania “snack belt,” joining other
well-known brands such as Herr’s
and Utz.
Middleswarth is a smaller company, particularly compared to Herr’s
of Allentown and Wise, which are
both available up and down the
East Coast. But Middleswarth’s following is no less loyal.
The company got some notable,
if brief, national profile this past
winter when a bag of their chips
was used as a prop in an episode of
the sitcom “Modern Family.”
Viewers across Pennsylvania
spotted the familiar red “M” logo
and recognized it despite the bag
being in the background of a scene.
“Oh, we got quite a bit of attention,” Bret Middleswarth said.
“They had it on the radio, on TV.
A couple articles on it. It was really
great exposure for a small company
like us. It was definitely a big hit.”
Locally, Middleswarth has a
distributor right across the Susquehanna River on State Street in
Larksville.
“We have a pretty good following
in the Wilkes-Barre area,” Bret Middleswarth said. “It’s slowly been
growing over the years.”
Bret asked his father, company
president Dave Middleswarth, how
long the company has had a foothold in Luzerne County.
“Been about 50 years,” Dave said.
“That’s important,” Bret said.
“A lot of people grow up eating a
brand of chips. It’s hard to change,
like a leopard can’t change his
spots.”
It’s easy to see how nostalgia
can take hold with a person’s snack
choice.
Seth Matthews, of Wilkes-Barre,
had picked up a large bag of BarB-Q flavor Middleswarth chips —
best known by “The Weekender”
label — while home from college in
March.
“I have to get a bag whenever I
come home,” Matthews said while
waiting in line at a grocery store.
“These have always been my favorite.”
“That,” Bret Middleswarth said,
“is one of the nicest things you can
hear. It always tickles you. It shows
you’re doing something right.”
Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on
Twitter @TLdlevarse
Locally Owned and Operated
TV & APPLIANCES
639 Wyoming Ave, Kingston • 570-287-9631
1313 Wyoming Ave, Exeter • 570-655-8801
Those familiar large bags of Middleswarth chips — dubbed “The Weekender” — are ready to be shipped
out across Pennsylvania.
Visit us on the web at www.voitektv.com
Times Leader
NEPA MADE
Sunday, April 24, 2016 13
Affordability and local connection
keeps Wise Snacks thriving for 95 years
By Tom Venesky
[email protected]
BERWICK — With distribution that spans the
entire East Coast, Wise Snacks has remained true
to its local roots.
The business was established by Earl Wise
in 1921 in Berwick, where it has remained ever
since. Even after a fire destroyed the original
manufacturing plant in 1944, Wise chose to
remain in Berwick, a decision that has benefited
both the company and the community.
Jeremy Bjork, chief marketing officer for Wise
Snacks, said the Berwick plant employs 900 and
purchases some of its potatoes from Pennsylvania
farmers.
“We want to stay true to our heritage,” Bjork
said. “When you’re committed to a community all
those years, it’s natural to give back in terms of
employment opportunities and community outreach.”
The Berwick location benefits the company,
as well. With a location in northeastern Pennsylvania, Wise is able to distribute its products
up and down the East Coast and as far west as
Pittsburgh and Cleveland. That broad distribution
has allowed Wise to form close relationships with
several distributors, such as Mr. Paul Enterprises
in Kingston.
Bill Jones, president and CEO of Mr. Paul
Enterprises, said his company has been a distributor for Wise since 1986, delivering products to
several hundred retail outlets from Tunkhannock
to Washingtonville, throughout Luzerne County
and into the Poconos.
Jones said sales of Wise products have
increased annually for the last four years and they
deliver two tractor trailer loads every week.
Being local is one reason why Wise has
remained popular, Jones said. The other factor is
price.
“Our pricing is consumer friendly,” he said.
“There’s a loyalty to the brand from people who
have grown up here because Wise buys local,
employs local and is distributed by local people.”
Bjork said Wise is in the process of expanding
into Texas and Mexico and recently built another
manufacturing facility in Fort Worth. But he
Aimee Dilger | Times Leader
Terry Boyer, manager of the Wise facility in Berwick, poses near a
portrait of Earl Wise Sr., the company’s founder.
Pounds of potatoes
Aimee Dilger | Times Leader
Terry Boyer, manager of the Wise facility in Berwick, poses near
a portrait of Earl Wise Sr., the company’s founder.
added the Berwick plant remains a central part of
the company’s business.
“Being located in Berwick works well for us
where we’re strongest, which is the northeast
United States,” Bjork said.
When Jones began distributing for Wise, the
company offered 25 products. Today, that figure is
over 100 and the company continues to change to
meet the needs of consumers.
According to Jones, Wise recently began offering new flavors that will be rotated every six
months. The flavors are based on the top-selling
items from food trucks in the region, and they
include hot dog and taco-flavored potato chips.
Being able to adapt in a snack food business
that is highly competitive is one reason why Wise
has thrived, Jones said.
But being local and affordable is why it’s
remained in business for so long.
“Wise products start local and they stay that
way,” Jones said. “The brand is becoming more
national, but it’s staying popular locally because
it’s remained cost effective with affordable prices.”
Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky
To meet the demand for its products, Wise
Snacks uses 2.3 million potatoes each
week, and 119 million pounds every year.
Terry Boyer, operations manager for the
plant in Berwick, said Wise Snakcs buys
potatoes from farmers in Florida beginning
in May and processes them within 24 hours
after being dug. In August, Wise Snacks
starts buying potatoes from local farmers
and farms in New York. During the winter
months, four farms in New York supply
potatoes to Wise Snacks from on-farm
storage facilities.
Some of the potato chips Wise makes.
Aimee Dilger | Times Leader
14 Sunday, April 24, 2016
NEPA MADE
Times Leader
Times Leader
NEPA MADE
Sunday, April 24, 2016 15
NEPA MADE
16 Sunday, April 24, 2016
Times Leader
Senape’s Bakery ‘pitza’ meant
to be eaten right out of the box
By Jennifer Learn-Andes
[email protected]
The “pitza” prepared at
Senape’s Bakery in Hazleton is
ready to eat right out of the box.
“You can heat it up if you want
to, but it’s not meant to be eaten
that way,” said bakery owner
Mary Lou Marchetti, 73. “We
wait until it’s cold to pack it.”
The unchanged and secret
recipe used for decades involves
bread dough topped with a special tomato sauce and mixture
of cheeses that allow it to stay
unheated for up to three days
with no added preservatives, Marchetti said.
The double stack of slices
comea in a white box tied with
string.
The “Senape’s Original Pitza” is
among several locally made boxed
pizzas sold in Luzerne County
grocery stores. Others include
pizzas made by Longo’s Bakery in
Hazleton and Nardone Brothers
Baking Co. in Wilkes-Barre.
Marchetti has worked at the
bakery since it was purchased
from the Senape family in 1965,
and became owner in 1979. The
Senape family established the
bakery in 1926, which became the
home of the original cold pitza,
the company’s website says.
The cold “pitza” is often
described as “pitz” in the Hazleton area.
“If you didn’t grow up in the
coal region, you probably never
have heard of cold-cut pitza,” the
website says.
Marchetti said she regularly
receives requests from Hazleton
area natives to ship the “addicting
delicacy” throughout the country
Fred Adams |For Times Leader
Senape’s Bakery in Hazleton regularly receives orders to
ship its cold pitza to natives who have relocated to other
states and countries, workers say.
Melissa Rossi, a 40-year employee at Senape’s Bakery in Hazleton, displays a box of the
company’s ‘original pitza.’
and even internationally.
She takes pleasure that a new
generation is embracing a food
that is part of Hazleton’s history.
“I’m not ready to retire, but
when I am, I’d want to put it in
the hands of someone who will
keep the pitza exactly like it is,”
Marchetti said.
Longo’s Bakery started making cold pitza after Joe Longo
purchased the bakery from Nick
Dalo in 1967, the company’s website says. Longo had previously
worked at Senape’s, Marchetti
said.
The Longo version was topped
with Parmesan and Romano
cheese, cut into squares and
packed 12 slices to a box, the site
says.
“This item became a regional
favorite among blue collar workers and remains as a staple in
many Northeast homes today,”
the site says.
Longo’s acquired the brand
name and routes of Mama Nardone’s Pizza in Wilkes-Barre in
1997. This boxed pizza is made
with a more conventional pizza
cheese that requires baking prior
to eating, the site says.
Founded in 1942, according to
its website, Nardone Brothers’
products are served in schools
and other institutions around the
country in addition to area grocery stores.
The boxed Nardone pizza contains directions to cook it in the
oven, although some Wyoming
Valley residents have been known
to avoid that step.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388
or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
Fred Adams |For Times Leader
A customer leaves Senape’s Bakery on West 17th Street
in Hazleton, known for boxed ‘cold pitza’ and other baked
goods.
Fred Adams |For Times Leader
A rack full of fresh boxed pitza at Senape’s Bakery in
Hazleton. The pitza, meant to be served cold, is baked
seven nights a week with no preservatives used.
Times Leader
NEPA MADE
Sunday, April 24, 2016 17
Building a better coffee with
Electric City Roasting Company
Owner Mary Tellie talks classes, Costa Rica and coffee
THROOP — At Throop’s Electric
City Roasting Company, owner Mary
Tellie may offer you a cup of Helsar
De Zarcero coffee — then tell you the
name of the Costa Rican farmer who
grew the beans.
Tellie spends six to eight weeks a
year traveling to farms and buying
beans. She expects to process 100,000
pounds of coffee this year; up exponentially from her 60 pound start in
2003. Tellie opened Scranton’s Zummo’s Café that same year, but soon
saw a need to separate her roasting
business from Zummo’s. A permanent
home, complete with laboratory space
and a classroom, was created for Electric City Roasting Company.
“I needed a place where I could
demonstrate, for example, if you wanted to open a café, we could train you
so that you can learn how to prepare
drinks correctly,” Tellie said. “You’re
not going to roast coffee, you’re going
to get that from us, but you need to
understand a little bit about what
you’re tasting. I think our area has
an amazing work ethic and if we can
train coffee professionals, I think that
would be a marvelous thing.”
Electric City Roasting Company’s
classroom isn’t just attracting local
students; it’s attracting coffee scholars
from faraway places, thanks to the
organization that has named Tellie
its incoming chair: Specialty Coffee
Association of America’s Roasters
Guild.
“The initial goal for the roasting
side is to legitimize the craft of roasters,” said Roasters Guild Founding
Member Mike Ebert.
Ebert, an Elcro Village, Illinois
resident who owns Firedancer Coffee
Consultants, visits SCAA accredited
classrooms like Electric City Roasting
Company’s to teach classes on topics
like cup tasting and coffee buying.
Tellie utilizes her resources to focus
on buying and distributing quality
coffee; she travels, samples and purchases the beans, then she sends them
to a contract roasting company in
Ohio.
Outsourcing her roasting was a
tough decision, but it allows Tellie
to put things like equipment maintenance and insurance in the hands
of someone else. After the beans are
roasted to her exact specifications
(all recipes are developed in-house),
they’re shipped back to Throop, packaged and distributed to places like
Scranton’s Adezzo, Wilkes-Barre’s
Westmoreland Club and area Wegmans supermarkets.
Tellie’s future plans include the
expansion of Electric City Roasting Company’s educational aspect,
partnerships with local colleges and
continuing research into cold brew
coffee. The incoming chair of SCAA’s
Roasters Guild continues to push forward for the same reason she found
her place in the coffee industry: the
people.
“It’s the relationships I’ve found in
this industry,” Tellie said. “Whether
it is at the origin with the farmers or
whether it’s with the producers in the
mills or equipment folks or folks like
Mike Ebert. Somewhere in there is
the reason I did it; I can’t really put
my finger on it. For whatever reason,
this is where I’m supposed to be.”
Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter @
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By Gene Axton
[email protected]
NEPA MADE
18 Sunday, April 24, 2016
Times Leader
The Beekeeper’s Daughter is the place to get raw honey
By Jimmy Fisher
[email protected]
Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader
Rob McGinley holds up a honey comb to the light.
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PLAINS TWP. — Honey bottling is
not a common profession in the Wyoming Valley, which makes The Beekeeper’s Daughter a one-of-a-kind business.
Originally from Dallas, The Beekeeper’s Daughter was started in 2010
by Hannah Burgess for the purpose of
bottling the honey created from the
thousands of bee hives her family owns.
“We didn’t used to bottle our honey,
just sell it to other companies who
would bottle it for us,” she said. “I came
along and said that we should start bottling our own product. I started The
Beekeeper’s Daughter and started bottling our honey instead of selling it to
larger corporations.”
Burgess’s family owns 4,200 beehives
in different regions of Florida where
her dad, William Perry, Jr. and various
employees collect honey in the fall and
winter months and have it transported
back to Pennsylvania.
In the spring and summer, the bees
are transported to farms in northern
Pennsylvania and southern New York
where Burgess’s brother, Rob McGinley,
travels to collect honey.
After the honey is taken to The Beekeeper’s Daughter, it is kept in containers at temperatures between 90 and 110
degrees.
Burgess does nothing to the honey,
meaning she does not add or subtract
anything to detract its natural flavors.
Although her dad, brother and other
employees can collect honey straight
from the beehives, Burgess cannot go
anywhere near the bees.
“I’m allergic,” she said. “At our farm
(in Dallas) there were bees flying
around, which is a little more dangerous wheras down here (in Plains Township) we can bottle safely and people
can come and go.”
Last May, Burgess decided to open
her store in its current location at 60
Maffett St. in Plains Township as it is
a better location for wholesaling, she
said.
The 6,000 square foot building
includes a small storefront for customers to purchase honey, candles and
other gifts.
Other parts of the building include
areas where Burgess and her brother
keep inventory of honey, make beeswax
bars, bottle the honey and relax in a
lounging area.
Although The Beekeeper’s Daughter
has been in Plains Township for almost
a year, Burgess said the shop didn’t
open until about five months ago.
“The place needed work so it needed
time to set up,” she said. “This place
was empty for five years and a whole
bunch of stuff needed to be done, so we
had a lot of work to do. We didn’t open
the shop until around Thanksgiving.”
Burgess said the family still does
some work in its old Dallas location in
terms of extracting honey, but honey is
bottled in Plains Township now.
Beekeeping and honey making is not
a hobby of the Burgess family — it’s a
legacy.
Starting with her great-grandparents
owning a regular farm in Dallas, it was
Hannah’s grandfather William Perry
Sr. who started the family business of
beekeeping after his parents obtained a
beehive.
“My grandfather ended up getting
really into it and started out as a bee
inspector,” she said. “He would inspect
beehives and then it just kind of went
from there.”
Today, the family business is continuously growing and has even gotten to
the point where Burgess said they’ll sell
honey to other beekeepers to help them
out.
Beeswax and honey products from
The Beekeeper’s Daughter can be found
in local stores such as Hillside Farms in
Dallas, House of Nutrition in Luzerne,
Thrive Wellness in Kingston, Wegman’s
in Wilkes-Barre, Purple Squirrel Pastry
in Pittston and many more.
The product may be purchased online
at igourmet.com and northeastsnacks.
com.
Reach Jimmy Fisher at 570-704-3972 or on Twitter @
SD_JimmyFisher
Times Leader
NEPA MADE
Sunday, April 24, 2016 19
Diamond Manufacturing focuses on local laborers
By Patrick Kernan
[email protected]
WYOMING — After over 100 years
in business, Diamond Manufacturing,
headquartered in Wyoming, continues
to operate in Northeastern Pennsylvania
for one reason: the people, so says David
Simpson, the company’s president and
chief operating officer.
Diamond Manufacturing, which is,
according to Simpson, North America’s
largest steel perforator, got its start perforating steel for the coal-mining industry
but, in recent years, has set its sights on
other goals.
“We’ve diversified our business, and
we’re doing much more sophisticated
work today,” Simpson said, explaining
that Diamond perforates steel for companies in fields as varied as appliances,
agriculture and energy.
The company accomplishes this
diverse range of business by having locations in Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Indiana.
According to Simpson, these location
choices were strategic. For example, the
Texas location services Mexican customers, while the Indiana location focuses on
Chicago businesses.
Simpson insists the headquarters in
Wyoming is vital to the company’s overall success.
This stems from the sheer amount
of business that flows through the local
location.
“This is where about half of the production of our company comes out of,”
Simpson said of the headquarters. “This
plant here can do things that many of
our competitors and many of our other
plants can’t do.”
Simpson said the company’s success
comes in spite of difficulties facing the
steel perforation industry in the Northeast United States, since steel is primarily manufactured in the Midwest and the
southern United States.
“The toughest part of our job is freight
costs,” he said. “Steel has to travel from
those locations, travel all the way here
and we ship it back to almost where it
came from.”
In spite of the high costs, Simpson said
the people are what make operating in
Northeast Pennsylvania valuable.
Diamond Manufacturing’s focus on
staff comes from previous president,
Rusty Flack, whose family owned the
business for “four generations,” Simpson
said.
Flack, according to Simpson, invested
in both the facility itself and in the people
working there.
After Flack’s passing in 2011, Diamond
Manufacturing became a part of Reliance
Steel, a publicly traded company based in
Los Angeles.
Simpson said that, in spite of Flack’s
absence, workers are still the focus.
“I’ve been here for 30 years,” he said,
stating there are others who have worked
at the company even longer. “If you treat
employees right, they won’t want to
leave.”
The emphasis on Northeast Pennsylvania runs deep, extending to Diamond
Manufacturing’s other facilities around
the country.
“We think the work ethic in this area
is the greatest work ethic we’ve found in
the country,” Simpson said. “So we try
to take our own people and put them in
some higher positions throughout the
country.”
Reach Patrick Kernan 570-991-6119 or by email at
[email protected]
20 Sunday, April 24, 2016
NEPA MADE
Times Leader